


Mind Games

by SkinnyProcrastinator



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Military, F/F, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 52,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4721252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkinnyProcrastinator/pseuds/SkinnyProcrastinator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Major Emma Swan is signed off from active duty following an accident, refusing any and all help she eventually befriends a cat-loving Doctor with her own issues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Delirious_Comfort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delirious_Comfort/gifts).



> While the two characters in this story are a doctor and would-be patient, they never technically meet under professional circumstances and any potential ethical issues are fully dealt with in later chapters.
> 
> For Delirious_Comfort and based upon a [tumblr GIF set](http://a-e-radley.tumblr.com/post/127633045283/reginamlls-au-regina-is-emmas-therapist)

“Not what you were expecting?”

Doctor Regina Mills looked at the attractive young blonde woman in front of her. The woman was absolutely not what Regina had been expecting. When she had taken on the case she had been told nothing about the patient just that the utmost secrecy was required of her.

“I did picture you a little differently,” Regina admitted cautiously.

“You thought I’d be a man, right?” Major Emma Swan replied with a cold laugh.

Regina regarded the casually dressed officer who sat on the sofa opposite her. The woman was leaning forward and draping her arms around her raised knees, tall leather boots on the edge of the sofa. 

“It’s okay,” Emma continued. “No one expects a woman in my line of work.”

“When did you join the Air Force?” Regina asked as she tried to let the initial shock of seeing her unexpected patient wear off.

“You know I don’t believe in therapy, right?” 

“That is what I heard,” Regina confessed.

“So all this getting to know me and getting inside my head.. it won’t work.”

“Why don’t we just talk?” Regina attempted.

“Do you know why I’m here, Doctor Mills?” 

Regina paused. As a therapist that was often a question she asked her patients as a way to get them to open up and talk to her. Now Emma Swan was directing the question at her and in a manner that very clearly led Regina to believe that Emma already had an answer. One she probably didn’t want to hear.

“Why do you think you’re here, Major Swan?” Regina opted to stick to formalities as Emma had done.

“I’m here because I’m out of options.” Emma sighed and looked to the side of the tastefully decorated office. Her eyes focused on the log-burning fireplace that lay cold.

“I’m here,” Emma repeated quietly. “Because my superiors have taken me to everyone else, forced me to speak to countless doctors, sit through endless therapies and none of it has worked. Do you want to know why it hasn’t worked?” Emma turned her head and regarded Regina with a cocky grin.

Regina swallowed and slowly nodded her head. 

“Because,” Emma whispered, “I don’t want it to.”

Regina frowned softly as she asked, “you don’t want to get better?”

Emma laughed loudly and Regina jumped slightly from the shock of the sudden sound.

“Better? There’s no getting better from this, how can you possibly say that?” 

Regina opened and closed her mouth a couple of times but no words managed to form before Emma stared at her and smiled an incredulous smile.

“You don’t know.” It was an accusation. “You don’t even know why I’m here, do you?”

“Your referring physician thought it best to not tell me the particulars of the case so you could tell the story in your own words,” Regina replied. 

The truth was that Regina had fought long and hard to get a foot in the door of the nearby Air Force base. A sad fact of life was that people in the service often required therapy and Regina’s practice was floundering. A contract from the base would set her up for life and help to further her career, books, touring conferences and more.

When Major General Grant had finally returned her call and spoken about a case Regina had jumped at the opportunity. At the gates to the base she had signed document after document in order to gain access to the premises, non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements, secrecy agreements and more. As the armed guard watched her she signed paper after paper without even acknowledging what they all meant.

Before long she was being handed heavily redacted documents about a Major Swan who had been involved in some kind of accident. Details of the Major, the accident, medical history and project information were all heavily classified and Regina was given an ultimatum; take the case or leave and never return.

Regina had poured over every detail in the scarce case file but could find nothing of use. She called Doctor Archibald Hopper, Major Swan’s physician at the base, and he told her that he wasn’t allowed to divulge any information. He did say that one of the reasons the Air Force was looking outside the base was to encourage the Major to speak, hoping that someone not on the Air Force payroll might be enough incentive for the Major to finally open up.

While Doctor Hopper refused to answer any questions he did admit that anything the Major might disclose would need to be kept secret and reminded Regina that she had signed a number of agreements.

Eventually she was left with no option but to invite the Major in for a session and attempt to piece together more in person. Clearly that strategy was not going well.

“Wow,” Emma said with a shake of her head and a smile on her face. “They really must be out of options too. Sending me to you, with no idea what you’re doing..”

“Hey!” 

Emma chuckled.

“I have my PhD..” Regina began to list her credentials but stopped when Emma waved her hand at her with a tired expression.

“I was kidding around,” Emma said and looked to the wall behind Regina’s empty desk. “I saw all your fancy certificates hanging up when I walked in.”

Regina looked over to where Emma’s gaze fell. 

“It’s a legal requirement that I hang them up,” Regina commented.

Emma regarded the almost nervous looking brunette with interest. “You don’t want me to think you’re vain,” Emma stated.

Regina silently watched as Emma regarded her as if analysing every details of her hair, face and clothes.

“You want me to like you,” Emma observed.

“Don’t we all wish to be liked?” Regina asked.

“Why would a professional woman such as yourself take on a case you knew nothing about?” Emma asked rhetorically. “And why are you keen for me to like you? You need this case. From your fancy dress I don’t think you need the money. Is it status?”

Regina could feel her cheeks flushing red at how quickly Emma had sized her up and read her.

“May I ask what you do for the Air Force, Major?” Regina asked steadily, attempting to get the conversation back on track and the ball on her side of the court.

“I’m a developmental engineer within the alternative fuel division,” Emma replied with a grin.

Regina sighed. “You’re a scientist.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Emma said with a nod. 

Regina sucked in a deep breath and chewed her lip for a moment. Scientists were observant, analytical, curious and persistent. They certainly did not make for good patients, often understanding the therapy process and therefore easily able to identify different approaches and easily derail them. 

A scientist who did not want to be treated was going to prove an uphill challenge for Regina, if she could even convince Major Swan to stay in therapy with her for any length of time.

“My father doesn’t believe I can make it in this field,” Regina admitted suddenly. “The practice is his and I am a junior partner, one of many. He feels I am too soft to do the job.”

Emma cocked her head to one side and regarded the brunette with interest. “Are you too soft to do the job?”

“Maybe,” Regina said with a small shrug. “I got into the business with the view to helping people. Is that soft?”

“And you want to help me?” Emma asked expressionlessly.

“Partly,” Regina said honestly. “Partly to further my career. Prove something to my father. And to myself. It’s hard being a woman in a man’s world.”

Emma clicked her tongue loudly. “You see, up until that last sentence I believed what you said.”

“But the last sentence?” Regina asked curiously.

“I wonder if you’re attempt to forge a connection with me. Commenting about it being a man’s world to a woman in the military could be seen as a way to bond with me.”

“Are you always this suspicious of people?”

“Yes.”

Regina nodded and looked at the clock on the wall. “I think we should leave it there, Major.”

Emma frowned and looked at the clock. “I’ve only been here for fifteen minutes.”

“And by your own admission you believe me to be manipulating you, not to mention the fact that you don’t want therapy.”

“You give up easily,” Emma commented as she stood up and walked over to the coat rack.

“I don’t believe in wasting energy on battles that are already lost. You made your mind up about me the second you walked in here,” Regina said as she stood up and walked over to her desk. “You looked at my clothes, my shoes, my qualifications and my décor. You analysed each and came to a conclusion about me without giving me a chance to defend nor concede a single thing.”

Emma picked up her black leather jacket off of the hook and put it on. “I speak as I find.”

“I always thought the role of a good scientist was to acquire knowledge. Using a mixture of observation and experimentation to prove or disprove theories. Seems I was wrong, it’s actually about making blind assumptions based on stereotypes.”

Emma looked at Regina as the brunette took a seat in a plush leather office chair and started to boot up her laptop.

“Same time tomorrow?” Emma questioned.

“I’m busy tomorrow, Friday morning,” Regina countered without looking up.

“Eleven,” Emma said.

Regina knew that Emma had deliberately picked a time that could only technically be described as morning and nodded her head. 

“Very well, Major. Friday at eleven.”


	2. Chapter 2

Doctor Henry Mills looked up to see his daughter meekly opening the door to his office and peak her head around.

“Can I come in, daddy?” Regina asked softly. She knew that he didn’t have any patients but that was by no means a measure of her father’s willingness to accept visitors into his office.

Henry smiled and silently gestured to the chair in front of his large mahogany desk.

Regina breathed out a small sigh of relief and closed the office door behind her before taking a seat in the chair opposite her father. The worn leather tub chair was considerably lower than the chair her father sat in and Regina knew it was so the shorter man could always look down upon his visitors.

“I assumed you would be busy for longer with your new patient,” Henry commented as he clipped the lid of his fountain pen into place and gently lowered the heavy writing implement to his desk before looking expectantly at his daughter.

“She had to go,” Regina replied, evading the truth slightly in order to see what mood her father was in before coming clean.

“She?” Henry frowned. “I thought you said it was a man?”

Regina chuckled and nodded her head. “I thought it was, the documents were so heavily censored I didn’t have any evidence either way.”

“So, you assumed it was a man.” It was a statement that could easily have been judgemental but Henry’s neutral tone made it hard for Regina to know one way or another.

“Yes,” Regina admitted. “I was quite surprised when a young woman was in the waiting room.”

“Young too?” Henry questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, under thirty,” Regina explained with a shrug.

“And a Major already?” Henry asked but clearly didn’t expect an answer. He leaned back in his chair and pinned Regina with searching eyes. “So, you are still set on this course of action?”

Regina let out a tired sigh, they had been over the conversation several times with neither agreeing fully with the other’s perspective.

“Daddy..” Regina warned, not wishing for another argument on the subject.

“This is a business, my darling,” Henry said in a soft tone as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the desk. “This.. test case.. with the Air Force is highly irregular. Not being paid for your time is a risky move.. I just worry that..”

“Daddy, please, we’ve talked about this.” Regina let out a sigh.

Henry nodded and held up his hands. “I trust you know what you’re doing.”

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Regina grumbled under her breath but certainly loud enough for her father to hear.

Henry let out a sigh, the wedge between him and his only daughter would only continue to grow if he didn’t show that he trusted her.

“I assume you came in here for.. guidance?” Henry asked carefully.

Regina let out another sigh and nodded her head.

“What is it, darling?” Henry asked after a few moments of silence.

“She’s.. awkward,” Regina admitted. “She is a scientist, not a soldier. I..”

“You?” Henry prompted when nothing else was forthcoming from Regina.

“I’m concerned.”

“Let me guess. You were expecting an older, and more than likely, male war veteran with some kind of post-traumatic stress sustained in battle. But you actually got a young female scientist who knows all about psychological processes and you’re concerned you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”

Regina stared at her father for a moment before placing her elbow on the side of the tub chair she sat in and resting her head in her hand.

“You can tell me that you told me so whenever you’re ready,” Regina whispered as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

“Assumptions are dangerous things,” Henry said as he leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the edge of his desk. “You assumed about your patient and now you assume I will be counter-productive rather than try to help you.”

Regina opened her eyes and squinted at her father apologetically. “Sorry, daddy..”

Henry laughed gently. “You are so much like your mother..”

A heavy air of grief fell between them, the loss still palpable despite the years that had passed.

“Your most pressing issue is this,” Henry started as he interlaced his fingers and pointed the index fingers in the air while resting his elbows on the arms of the chair. “You believe she will outsmart you. She’s a scientist who has, we imagine, been in and out of every kind of therapy the military can throw at her. You assume, probably correctly, that she has run rings around her previous therapists. She caught you out by not being what you expected and now you doubt your abilities.”

“All true,” Regina admitted and looked up at her father with a sad smile.

“Now is not the time to doubt yourself. You are Doctor Regina Mills, top of her class and graduating with honours not to mention that you are from a long and distinguished line of some of the best psychologists in the country. You know what you are doing, my darling. You just need some time to lick your wounds after the first battle and then you will be ready to fight another day. Going to another session refreshed and with new information can only make you stronger.”

“She’s coming back on Friday,” Regina disclosed. The feeling of dread already gnawing at her.

“Good,” Henry said as he lowered his legs off of the desk again. “That will give you some time to prepare.”

“I’m not sure I know how, daddy. How do I prepare when I have no case history to work with, nothing to go on at all?” 

“That is for you to figure out, my dear girl,” Henry said as he inched his chair closer to his desk and picked up his fountain pen. “Don’t admit defeat so quickly, you’re better than you know.”


	3. Chapter 3

Regina looked nervously at her wristwatch and waited for the second hand to sweep its way to the top of the watch face and bring the minute hand along with it. At precisely eleven o’clock she left her office and walked down the short corridor towards the waiting room. Steeling herself momentarily and catching a cleansing breath before opening the door she entered the waiting room and her eyes immediately fell on the sole occupant, Major Emma Swan.

Regina smiled a friendly smile and gestured for the woman to follow her towards her office. 

“The waiting room and your office look completely different,” Emma said as she followed Regina into her office.

“The waiting room is more my father’s style than mine,” Regina replied as she closed the door behind them.

Emma flouted the coat stand this time and casually threw her leather jacket over the back of the sofa before sitting down.

“Which style do you prefer?” Regina asked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. “They both have their place. Why are you so against your father’s style?”

Regina sat on the sofa beside where Emma sat and looked around the office which was very modern and decorated in whites, blacks and shades of grey. No dark woods were to be found within her office though the entire waiting room was filled with dark wooden antique furniture.

“I’m not against it exactly, I just prefer this style.”

“Right,” Emma said with an unconvinced smile.

“But you’re not here to talk about my design preferences,” Regina said.

“Oh? Why am I hear, Doctor Mills?” Emma asked innocently.

“You tell me,” Regina replied as she crossed her legs and casually sat back.

Emma silently shrugged her shoulders as her eyes strayed towards the cold fireplace and then to the modern art painting that hung above it. 

“The last time you were here you said you came because you were out of options, what did you mean by that?”

“What anyone means when they say they are out of options, they have been down every other avenue and have arrived at the final route.”

“You mean you have been down every other avenue of therapy?” Regina attempted to clarify.

“If you like,” Emma said with a distracted smile as she continued to look around the large room.

“You’re being evasive,” Regina pointed out.

“Yes, I am.”

“Believe it or not I would like to help you, Major,” Regina said.

“Emma, please, just call me Emma.”

“You don’t like being referred to by your title?” Regina asked with interest.

“Not when I am pushing so hard to be discharged,” Emma admitted.

“You.. you want to be discharged?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“You’re unable to leave your position?”

“No, they want me to stay. To continue working on the project,” Emma divulged.

“But you don’t want to?”

“Must we go in circles?” Emma asked with a bored sigh. “I would prefer to be discharged, I have no interest in going back.”

“Surely your medical record alone would allow you to be discharged from your position?”

“Do you have much experience with the military, Doctor Mills?” Emma asked.

“Regina.”

“I prefer Doctor Mills,” Emma said formally. 

Regina raised an eyebrow before letting out a small sigh. “I have no personal or professional experience with the military, Emma,” she said with a slight emphasis on the blonde’s name.

“That is probably why they chose you,” Emma said with an understanding nod of her head.

“What do you mean?” Regina asked.

“Do you believe in life after death?” Emma suddenly asked Regina.

“Do you?” Regina quickly countered.

“I asked first,” Emma said with a cheeky grin.

“No,” Regina shook her head. “Personally I believe the concept only serves to comfort people in times of grief.”

“What do you think happens when we die?” Emma asked as she cocked her head to one side and leaned back on the sofa to regard the brunette.

“Nothing,” Regina said with a gentle shrug of her shoulder. “I think we cease to exist and the rest of the world goes on without us. What do you think happens?”

“I’m still thinking about it,” Emma said evasively. “What about heaven, do you believe in heaven?”

Regina took in a deep breath before slowly releasing it and looking around the room. “No.”

Emma chuckled. “That’s it, no, do you care to elaborate?”

“Is there any point?” Regina asked softly.

“We’re talking, isn’t that what you wanted?” 

“I’m talking,” Regina clarified. “You’re evading, trying to get me to talk so you don’t have to.”

Emma chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before she slowly stood up and walked over to the fireplace opposite where Regina sat and looked at the modern art painting with interest.

“I like this,” Emma said. “I know some people would say it’s just blobs of paint on a canvas and I know that other people might say that the yellow blob represents the artist’s attempt to show the abstract concept of harmony through their artistic medium. But do you know why I like it?”

Regina shook her head.

“I like it because it’s pretty.” 

Regina let out a chuckle and nodded her head in agreement. “That’s why I like it too.”

“Some people may not understand it and devalue it and some people may understand it a little too much for my liking but me.. well.. I’m in the middle. I like it because I like the look of it. I don’t feel any need nor desire to analyse it to death, I don’t need to give it more credit than I think its worth. I just like it.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Regina asked in an attempt to get Emma to open up more without the need for props and metaphors.

Emma sighed and shook her head sadly. She looked at Regina thoughtfully for a moment before suddenly announcing, “this is a waste of time.. you just won’t get it..”

Emma crossed to the sofa and picked up her leather jacket and started for the door.

“Wait,” Regina requested as she stood up.

Emma turned around and regarded Regina with sad eyes.

Regina took a deep breath. “You.. you don’t believe in therapy because you sit in the middle. You’re not someone who thinks the whole process is fraudulent but you also don’t want to give it more credit than you believe it deserves.”

“You’ve experience lots of different therapeutic processes,” Regina gestured to the painting above the fireplace. “And, like lots of different art forms, you consider some better than others but I think you’re sick of ostentatious medics who show you ink blots and ask you what you see. You know the military inside out, you wouldn’t have risen to your position so quickly if you didn’t and I’m certain you have been through every form of therapy that the military can throw at you. But, you’re an intelligent woman and you know it all, you know the theory and you know how to debunk it.”

Regina took a nervous step forward and interlaced her hands in front of her. “You know the military chose me to try to treat you because I have no experience with your line of work. You came back for another visit because you feel you can actually talk to me but you are maintaining your distance because you’re not sure yet if you can trust me. You’re pushing me to get me to open up to you so you can see how I tick and so you can find my weaknesses and use them in the future if you need to. Or to find a reason to discredit me. This is strategy probably drove your career success, through a method of political manoeuvring because you’ve never seen active service.”

Regina gestured to the painting. “And the yellow blob is not an abstract conceptualising of harmony. It’s a mistake where my cat put his paw in the yellow paint pot lid that I left on the floor and the proceeded to walk across the canvas. If you look carefully you will see a white hair in the paint mix I used to cover up the paw mark.”

Emma frowned softly and walked over to the painting and looked up at it again. Regina crossed the room and stood next to Emma and pointed to the blob of yellow paint. Emma squinted until she could see a small white hair almost completely obscured in the yellow paint.

“I saw it immediately, could have pulled it out and covered it easily,” Regina commented. “But I kept it in there, I suppose you could say that I wanted it to represent the concept of disharmony. Or let it act as a warning to other people wishing to have hobbies that include paint as well as owning a cat that doesn’t understand the idea of boundaries.”

Regina looked sideways at Emma who was looking up at the painting with a thoughtful frown. After a few moments of silence Emma nodded her head and took a step back.

“I need to go,” Emma announced softly. “How is Monday for you?”

Regina mentally brought up her calendar. “I’m fully booked, but I could see you during lunch?”

“Don’t you need to get out of your office and eat during that time?” Emma asked curiously.

“We could meet outside of my office. I often eat lunch just outside the office in the park next door, you could join me if you like?”

Emma raised her eyebrow. “You eat in the park?”

“Every day it’s not raining. Why is that so hard to believe?” Regina asked with a grin.

“You’re hardly dressed for a picnic,” Emma commented as she indicated Regina’s fitted dress.

“I have a picnic blanket,” Regina replied with a shrug.

“What time?”

“Twelve thirty.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you in the park. I’ll bring my own lunch.”

“Afraid I might poison you?” Regina asked with a light laugh.

“I have allergies and I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” Emma replied with a cocky smile. “Don’t always think the worse of someone, Doctor Mills.”

With that Emma quickly left the office leaving Regina looking at the closing door with interest. Regina smiled and shook her head, she was right, Emma Swan was pure trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

Mary Swan balanced the paper bag of groceries between her raised knee and the wall as she fumbled in her coat pocket for the keys to the front door of her apartment. She knew her sister was inside because she could hear music blasting out at a decibel that would surely mean another passive aggressive note from Mrs Lawrence who lived in the apartment downstairs. 

Mary found her keys and pivoted around on one leg in order to open the front door, once it slid open she gently kicked her handbag into the apartment before yanking her keys out of lock and entering the open-plan space.

“Hi!” Mary shouted at her sister who was stood at the kitchen counter with her back to the front door.

Emma turned around with a toaster under her arm and a screwdriver in her hand and blew a gust of breath up to blow the stray blonde hairs that had fallen from her loose ponytail away from her face. She nodded to her sister by way of greeting and Mary lowered the paper bag onto the counter and turned off the radio. Silence finally filled the apartment and Mary let out a breath of relief that the assault on her eardrums was now over.

“What happened?” Mary asked as she indicated the toaster under Emma’s arm.

“I met my therapist today,” Emma said as she sat on a kitchen stool and jammed the screwdriver into the, thankfully unplugged, toaster.

“And she told you to destroy my toaster?” Mary asked with a raised eyebrow.

“She’s.. awkward,” Emma replied with a sigh.

“No, you’re awkward,” Mary corrected with a smile as she walked back over to the front door and closed and locked it before bending forward to scoop up her handbag from the floor.

Emma lowered the toaster to the counter with the screwdriver still protruding from the top of it. “No, really, she’s awkward. She’s not even qualified to talk to military personnel, I bet she’s not completed any of our modules.”

Mary let out a loud laugh and shook her head incredulously.

“What?” Emma asked with frustration.

“You’re impossible,” Mary replied as she started to unload the groceries from the paper bag.

“Care to elaborate on that?” Emma asked defensively.

“Why, yes, I do,” Mary replied matter-of-factly. “You’ve continuously told me that every military therapist is spying on you and reporting back to the head of the base. Now you finally have a non-military therapist you’re saying that she’s not qualified. And awkward! Which, as we both know, is what you say when you’ve met someone who challenges you.”

Emma stared daggers at her sister’s back while the short brunette placed groceries in the fridge. No one would ever believe they were sisters, one was tall, with long blonde hair and scientific intelligence. The other was short with short brown hair and emotional intelligence. When they were growing up their mother would often comment that they could not be more opposite if they tried and try they did. Rather than being sisters who were jealous of each other and wanted the same clothes and the same toys they went out of their way to do things differently with each often waiting for the other to make a decision so they could make the exact opposite one. 

“That’s not true, someone can be awkward and no challenge to me at all.”

“Yes, they can,” Mary agreed with a nod of her head. “But that’s not what you mean now.”

Mary turned around and looked at her sister quizzically. “Anyway, I thought you were going to reject all further treatment?”

“I am,” Emma said with a decisive nod. “I have.”

“So.. you’re not seeing her again?” Mary questioned.

“I’m seeing her on Monday,” Emma said quietly as she picked up the toaster again and peered inside.

Mary frowned in confusion. “So, you’re seeing her on Monday despite her being awkward and not qualified and the fact that you say you are refusing treatment?”

Emma quietly chewed on the inside of her cheek as she jiggled the screwdriver around to see the components within the toaster.

“Oh, Emma,” Mary said in soft frustration.

“Don’t ‘oh, Emma’ me,” Emma said quietly.

“You like her, oh Emma.. you can’t like her, she’s your doctor..”

“No, she isn’t,” Emma said resolutely as she looked up at her sister with a firm glare. “I do not want therapy, I am not entrusting her with my mental well-being and we haven’t had any conversations that could constitute a doctor/patient relationship.”

Mary looked at Emma suspiciously. “I don’t think it’s as clear cut as that.”

“Of course it is, the whole point in doctor/patient confidentiality is to prevent a doctor from using their position of power over their patient to manipulate them to engage in a relationship. Regina doesn’t have any power over me. Thanks to the military and their love of a black marker pen she knows nothing about me. I don’t recognise her as my doctor and if she considers me as a patient, well, I’ll shake her of that opinion very shortly.”

“Oh my goodness,” Mary exclaimed with a hand to her chest to steady herself. “You’ve actually **planned** this.”

“Oh, please, Mary,” Emma snorted a laugh. “You make me sound like some sinister letch grooming an innocent, I only met her a couple of days ago.”

“I know how fast you work,” Mary said distastefully. “When did you decide you wanted..”

“Her?” Emma filled in the blank and laughed at her sister’s offended expression. “Probably as soon as I saw her, she’s very attractive.”

“Emma..” Mary whispered as she shook her head in surprise. Finding she had nothing else to say to her sister she slowly turned and continued with the unassuming task of unpacking her groceries.

Emma placed the toaster back on the counter and got off of the kitchen stool and helped her sister with the last remaining items. It was a tactic which Emma often employed, helping at the very end and thus allowing her the pretence of having helped despite arriving too late to have been able to accomplish anything worthwhile.

“I haven’t planned or decided anything,” Emma admitted. “I just know that she’s intriguing, she’s not like the people I usually meet. I went to meet her with every intention of refusing therapy and it’s easier than I thought to be in her presence while doing exactly that. So, it works.”

“What do you mean?” 

“We’ve met twice, briefly,” Emma explained. “And I’ve not told her anything private about me at all. We’ve spoken but it’s more trust-building than actual professional therapy.”

“I see,” Mary said with a tone that clearly meant she disapproved of Emma’s designs on her unknowing therapist. “And from these two brief meetings, what have you learnt about this poor woman that makes you want to keep up this charade?”

“That she clashes with her father who owns the practice, paints to unwind and owns a cat,” Emma said as she folded the empty paper grocery bag and placed it in the recycling bin.

“And based on that you want to see her again?” Mary asked sceptically. “How do you even know she’s gay?”

“You heard the bit about the cat, right?”

“I don’t think that’s an absolute sign. Besides, you hate cats.”

“And?” 

“She owns a cat, you want to date her and she owns a cat..” Mary explained until her voice drifted off as she looked at Emma’s cheeky grin.

“I didn’t say I wanted to date her,” Emma remarked before laughing as her sister shook her head and walked away muttering that she was a degenerate.


	5. Chapter 5

“Cute car.”

Regina jumped and held her hand to her chest in shock as she turned around and saw Emma standing behind her with a mischievous expression having clearly been intent on startling her.

“Thank you,” Regina commented when she recovered and turned around to reach back into the tiny trunk of the racing green Mini Cooper. “It was my mother’s, she loved vintage British things.”

“They don’t come more vintage British than that,” Emma replied.

Regina pulled out a small picnic basket with a green and grey check blanket and closed the trunk again and turned to look at the blonde. 

“Did you bring something to eat?” Regina asked with a frown.

Emma turned around and gestured to a small rucksack that was on her back with her thumbs before turning back around and regarding the wicker picnic basket that Regina held.

“One of us takes these things a lot more seriously than the other,” Emma remarked.

“One of us has picnics more frequently. Shall we?”

Emma held up her arm to gesture for Regina to lead the way. “Why do you eat in the park rather than in your exquisitely designed office?”

“Fresh air? Sunshine?”

“Do your windows not open?” Emma asked cheekily.

“They do but why not go outside and sit in nature for a while? It’s a wonderful refresher,” Regina replied as she crossed the park in search of an ideal picnic location.

“Why not? Bugs, mainly.” Emma shuddered at the thought.

“Not a fan of bugs?” Regina asked.

“No,” Emma said quickly. “And before you say anything, I understand the ecological system and the need for bugs. Of course, they have their place in our environment, I just don’t want them on my grape jelly sandwich.”

Regina looked at the blonde with a surprised expression. “Did you really bring grape jelly sandwiches?”

“Jealous?” Emma asked with a wink.

Regina laughed. “No, I brought grown up food. And I brought extra, just in case you forgot to bring something.”

“Very organised, Doctor Mills. Do you doubt my preparation?”

“Please, call me Regina.”

“We’ll see,” Emma said noncommittally.

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes as they continued their walk across the park. “How about there?”

“No, there,” Emma said as she pointed in a different direction.

“Are you being deliberately obstinate?” Regina asked honestly.

“Yes,” Emma admitted with a smile. “I was wondering how long it would be until you raised it.”

Regina looked at Emma diagnostically before nodding her head and pointing to her original choice in location. “We’ll sit there.”

“Okay,” Emma replied with a casual shrug and followed the brunette.

Regina walked ahead of Emma and placed the blanket on the ground and lowered her picnic basket to one corner. She opened up the basket and pulled out three small round stones with flat bases and placed one on each corner of the blanket.

“You carry stones to weigh down your picnic blanket.” Emma observed with a shake of her head.

“As I said, one of us does this frequently,” Regina replied, refusing to take Emma’s bait.

Emma nodded her head and shrugged her rucksack off of her back and knelt on the blanket and produced a bottle of chocolate-flavoured milkshake and a scrunched up sandwich wrapped in foil. She sat crossed legged on the blanket with the items in front of her.

“What a feast,” Regina commented dryly as she pulled out various small plastic containers with different foods in and sat with her legs to her side.

“Thank you,” Emma smiled brightly. “I made them myself.”

Regina snorted a small laugh as Emma unfolded the foil and revealed a poorly constructed sandwich, overflowing with grape jelly and with the crusts cut off.

“No crusts?” Regina asked teasingly.

“I’m watching my weight,” Emma claimed as she bit messily into the sandwich.

Regina hummed in acknowledgement as she released a pair of metal chopsticks that were strapped into the lid of her picnic basket and opened a plastic container and started to eat a spring roll.

“So, your mother is no longer with us?” Emma cut straight to the chase.

Regina froze for a moment and Emma almost retracted her question but Regina soon gathered herself again.

“She died three years ago, it was very sudden,” Regina replied without looking at Emma.

“Sudden?” Emma questioned. “Accident? Suicide?”

Regina looked at Emma in surprise. “You’re very forthright.”

“Just interested,” Emma said as she shook the bottle of chocolate milkshake. “Scientist, remember? We ask questions.”

“Suicide,” Regina said tightly and stared at Emma for a few seconds to encourage the blonde to leave the subject there.

Emma nodded her head and gulped her milkshake drink.

“What about your parents?” Regina asked.

“Both alive and well,” Emma replied.

“Do you see them often?” Regina pressed.

“No,” Emma said unhelpfully. “It must be hard working with your father.”

“Not really,” Regina shrugged and looked towards the nearby building that held the practice.

“What’s your cat’s name?” Emma asked.

Regina looked at Emma in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

“Your cat, the one with a fondness for yellow paint..”

“Oh.. well..” Regina fidgeted uncomfortably at the unexpected question.

“Oh, it’s embarrassing isn’t it?” Emma let out a happy chuckle. “It’s either really boring or really childish, isn’t it?”

“No, neither,” Regina said. “But we’re not here to talk about my cat.”

“But you’ve intrigued me now, Doctor Mills,” Emma said as she finished her sandwich and screwed up the foil that her sandwiches had been encased in. 

Regina rolled her eyes and looked around the park in deliberation. “Very well, but if I answer your question, you have to answer one of mine.”

“Depends on what it is,” Emma said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

Regina thought for a moment. “Will you tell me about the accident?”

“No.”

“Okay, will you tell me why you wish to be discharged from the military?”

“Not for the name of your cat, no.”

“Fine, I’ll keep it to myself then,” Regina said as she clipped her chopsticks back in place and opened up another plastic box and picked up a small and delicately cut sandwich.

Regina looked around the park and enjoyed the ambience as she ate her lunch and deliberately ignored Emma who was sat beside her considering the conversation carefully.

“Okay, I’ll tell you why I want to be discharged in my own words, and then you can’t ask any follow up questions.”

“Okay, you first,” Regina said as she turned to look at Emma with casual interest.

“You don’t trust me?” Emma asked with a pout.

“No,” Regina admitted.

Emma rolled her eyes, knowing that she had made her own bed in that regard.

“Very wise,” Emma admitted. “Okay, here’s the truth. I loved my job, it combined my love of science and my sense of duty to my country. I climbed to the top of my profession quickly, I was well-respected and I was able to choose my own projects. The project I was working on went wrong, mistakes were made by the team I managed. I tried to shut down the project but the military refused. The project is dangerous and they won’t listen to me, they are too motivated by profit and greed. It’s not the military I joined and I want out.”

Regina nodded her head in understanding and Emma looked away and into the distance.

“Henry.”

Emma turned to look at Regina and raised an eyebrow. “Henry?”

“I named my cat Henry.”

Emma frowned for a moment as she considered the name and suddenly realisation washed over her and she grinned. “You named your cat after your father?”

“Well, they do have the same name,” Regina admitted.

“Well, your father wasn’t named after the cat. I don’t want to call you old but unless that cat has some kind of Yoda thing going on then your father definitely arrived in your life first. You really do have daddy issues.”

Regina shrugged her shoulders. “That’s your pessimistic interpretation of it, maybe I admire my father?”

“And the cat is some kind of homage to him?” Emma said with a snort of laughter

Regina shook her head and looked away as she refused to talk to Emma any further on the subject. Not for the first time Regina wondered what she was doing, spending her lunch break with the awkward woman in an attempt to build some kind of trust was not working. She considered that she just wasn’t the right person to break through Emma’s walls, the woman was clearly adamant that she didn’t want therapy and seemed to find wasting Regina’s time a game.

Regina mindlessly ate her lunch as she looked around the park at the people enjoying the sunshine.

“We.. we have to go,” Emma suddenly said.

Regina turned back to regard the blonde, surprised to hear a note of panic creeping into the usually confident tone. Emma was staring into the distance where a young couple with a disposable barbeque had clearly used some flammable liquid and were fanning the flames of the out of control tiny metal tin. Regina looked from the flames that were about knee-high to Emma who was edging backwards despite being at least two hundred meters away from the small fire.

“Emma,” Regina said calmly as she quickly shifted her position so she blocked the blonde’s line of sight to the barbeque and the couple attempting to distinguish it. “It’s fine, it’s just a small fire and it’s a long way from here.”

Emma’s eyes roamed around the picnic blanket in a desperate attempt to not make eye contact with Regina’s concerned brown spheres. 

Regina knew that the blonde was on the verge of a panic attack and again spoke in a calm tone. “Henry is a rescue cat, when I got him from the shelter they said that he was a grumpy old man with boundary issues and a tendency to ignore instructions as well as sticking his nose where it is not wanted. I called him Henry because that’s my father to the letter. I wanted my father to see what a dick the cat was and identify that I called him Henry because they share traits. But the truth is my father had no interest in coming to my apartment and has never even met my cat so my passive aggressive cat naming has largely gone unnoticed.”

Despite her shallow breathing Emma let out a small laugh and her eyes flicked up to meet Regina’s before quickly looking elsewhere again while she attempted to control her panicky breaths. Regina looked over her shoulder and saw that the couple had managed to put the small fire out and adjusted her position again so Emma could see.

“It’s out,” Regina said carefully, not wanting to say anything else that may trigger the blonde.

Green eyes flicked from the blanket to the brunette and then to the distinguished fire and back to the blanket again. Emma nodded gratefully as she whispered, “thank you.”

Regina held out a bottle of water, knowing that the rapid breathing would have dried Emma’s throat. “Have something healthy to drink.”

Emma reached a slightly shaking hand out to the bottle and took it with a small nod. After a few gulps of water she replaced the cap and handed the bottle back to Regina.

“So, your dad’s a dick?”

“He has his moments,” Regina replied with a nod.

“And your cat is a dick too?”

Regina laughed. “Yes, but cat Henry is a little cuter so gets away with more.”

Emma remained silent while she stared at the young couple who were giggling over the smoky remnants of their barbeque. 

Regina tilted her head and regarded the blonde carefully for a moment. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” Emma said formally. 

“Maybe we could..” Regina started.

“I have to go.” Emma picked up the screwed up foil and the milkshake bottle and placed them in her rucksack and jumped up to her feet. She looked down at the brunette for a hesitant second before turning and walking away.

“Emma!” Regina called after the blonde without getting up from the picnic blanket.

Emma paused and turned her head around to look inquisitively at the doctor.

“How’s Thursday morning for you?” Regina asked casually.

Emma bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment. “Thursday afternoon.”

Regina snorted a small laugh and nodded her head. “Three?”

“Four,” Emma replied with a cheeky grin.

“I can only do three,” Regina said with a glint in her eye. 

Emma smiled and nodded her head. “See you then,” she said and then turned around and quickly made her way towards the exit of the park.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma slammed the door to the apartment so hard that Mary jumped in fear at the unexpected clatter. Once she calmed enough to realise the apartment wasn’t caving in Mary lowered her book and regarded her sister with a concerned frown.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?” Emma asked as she paced quickly up and down the open plan living room.

“Well, no,” Mary admitted as she clipped a bookmark into place and placed the book on the coffee table in front of her. “But I asked more as a conversation opener so you could tell me why you’re not okay.”

“I had a panic attack, in the park,” Emma explained in between fast paced breaths and without stopping her pacing.

“What happened?” Mary didn’t get up from the sofa, knowing from experience that her sister needed time to expel the nervous energy that panic attacks often filled her with.

“Some stupid fucking couple with a barbeque, it was.. it was blazing out of control and I.. I just seized up.”

“Was Doctor Mills there?” Mary asked with an inkling of why this particular event had upset her sister so much.

“Yes, damn, I knew I shouldn’t have gone today.”

“Did you run?” Mary pressed, knowing Emma’s habit of running away from danger and remembering all the times she had been talking to her sister to find she had suddenly vanished due to some perceived threat.

“Nearly,” Emma said as she walked towards the refrigerator and opened the door and stood in front of it to cool herself down.

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“What stopped you?” Mary asked, not about to let up on the line of questioning.

“Regina,” Emma eventually revealed with a deep sigh.

Mary opened her mouth to speak but Emma held up her hand. “Don’t say it.”

“Emma..”

“Do not say it.”

Mary got up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen and silently set about filling the kettle. She placed two mugs on the counter and placed a teabag in each.

“I don’t need to say it,” Mary said in a quiet whisper.

“And yet you seem destined to try,” Emma said as she slammed the refrigerator door shut.

“Nothing and no one has stopped you from a panic attack before, maybe she is good for you?” Mary forged ahead as Emma took a seat on the kitchen stool across the counter from her.

Emma flopped forward and laid her head on the kitchen counter while Mary waited for the kettle to boil. Once it clicked off she made two cups of tea and placed one in front of her sister.

“You know I put up with a hell of a lot,” Mary said softly. “When you joined the military, I said fine. And the when you couldn’t talk about your line of work, I said fine. Then when something happened and you were falling apart I was there for you. When you refused to talk about it and had to leave the base, I opened my home to you without asking any questions. I ignore the panic attacks, the night terrors and the path of self-destruction you’re on because I know it hurts you to talk to me about it because you think you have to be strong for me.”

Mary crossed the room and took her seat on the sofa again before leaning over the back of the sofa to look at her crumpled sister. 

“I know you don’t want to hear it but maybe you do need therapy. Maybe this woman can actually help you,” Mary suggested.

A long silence passed while Mary blew on her hot tea and waited for her sister’s reply.

“I don’t need therapy,” Emma finally spoke into the wooden counter top with a weary tone. “I just need this chapter of my life closed. The only reason I have the panic attacks and the nightmares is because I’m still stuck in limbo. Once the Air Force finally lets me go I will be able to get my life back in order.”

“Do you really think it will be that easy?” Mary asked carefully, she’d never had such an open and honest discussion with her sister and she wanted to get it all out while the opportunity presented itself.

“Yes,” Emma said decisively. “How am I supposed to get over anything if I’m still stuck there? Once they understand I’m not coming back and discharge me then I’ll be able to get on with my life.”

“And then you’ll miraculously be cured?” Mary raised her eyebrow doubtfully.

“No, of course not, I’m not that naïve,” Emma said as she raised her head and sat up straight on the kitchen stool and regarded her sister. “But I’ll be able to work through my issues because I’ll know they are behind me.”

“Emma, it’s been eight months and..”

“Do you want me to go? Is that what all of this is suddenly about?” Emma stared defensively at Mary. 

“Of course not,” Mary let out a sigh. “I told you that you can stay here for as long as you like, that will always be true. You may be a brat but you’re my sister and I love you. Which is why I say this with love, I think you need help.”

“You know what, Mary? Why don’t you just stick to the knitting and leave the psychoanalyses to those of us who know what we’re talking about,” Emma said bitterly as she picked up her mug of tea and stormed towards her bedroom.

* * *

Regina had been in a daze as she placed her picnic things back into the trunk of her car before walking back to her office. When she entered her office she was surprised to see her father sitting in there with a man she didn’t recognise.

“Ah, darling, there you are,” Henry Mills said with a bright smile.

Regina hung her thin summer jacket on the coat stand and smiled at the men politely as she waited for her father to introduce the stranger.

“Regina, this is Doctor Hopper, Major Swan’s physician at the base,” Henry introduced the man with thinning red hair and thick-framed rounded glasses. “I believe you two have spoken on the phone?” 

“Oh, yes” Regina stepped forward and held her hand out to Doctor Hopper who stood to greet her. “What a surprise, lovely to meet you, Doctor Hopper.”

“Oh, please, call me Archie.” He replied as they shook hands.

“Archie came to see you and I immediately recognised him from a lecture I gave a couple of years ago in California,” Henry explained and smiled warmly at the man. “We hit it off but I have to admit I didn’t make the connection when you spoke his name.”

Regina smiled politely at the information, unsurprised that her father knew Doctor Hopper as her father seemed to know everyone. She took a seat on the sofa beside Henry while Archie sat on the other sofa with his hands folded in his lap and a bright smile on his face.

“I was just passing and I thought I would drop in to see how you are progressing with Major Swan,” Archie explained cheerfully.

Regina felt scrutinised as both men turned to regard her, she didn’t like being put on the spot and she certainly didn’t like divulging patient details.

“Well enough,” she answered somewhat evasively. “We’re still building trust and with so little information to go on its taking a while longer than it might have done with appropriate case files.”

Archie let out a small laugh and nodded his head. “Yes, unfortunately a lot of the Major’s career and work is highly classified so you do have your work cut out for you, I’m afraid. Your father tells me it’s going well, though?”

Regina attempted to maintain a neutral expression despite her frustration at her father speaking on her behalf. “As I say, we’re building trust. It’s a good start.”

“Wonderful,” Archie said brightly.

“She says she is asking to be discharged.” Regina watched the expression on Archie’s face with interest.

“I’m afraid that is impossible,” Archie replied with a wry chuckle.

“How so?” Regina questioned.

“Major Swan is working on a vital project that requires her expertise, the project is on hold while the Major is unwell but she needs to get back to it as soon as possible.”

“There’s no one else to take her place?” Regina queried.

Archie shook his head. “Major Swan is an expert in her field and the project is.. unique. Getting her back to the base as quickly as possible has always been our goal.”

“And if that’s not possible?” Regina questioned.

“That’s not an option,” Archie replied with a smile fixed upon his face.

“My daughter is also an expert in her field,” Henry spoke up and put his arm around Regina’s shoulder. “I’m sure if anyone can get through to Major Swan then she will.”

Archie nodded his agreement. “I’m sure a woman’s touch will help. Especially a non-military one.”

Regina bristled at the chauvinistic comments but smiled and nodded politely. “I’m very sorry but I have to prepare for a phone call with a patient.” 

“Not a problem, I won’t take up any more of your time. As I said, I just dropped in as I was passing and remembered your father’s name,” Archie said as he stood up.

“Let me walk you out,” Henry offered to Archie.

Regina stood up and gave another tight but polite smile as she shook Archie’s hand courteously and said goodbye to him. 

Once the men were gone she let out a deep breath and shook her head at their interfering behaviour. As if she would be foolish enough to divulge information to them about Emma’s case when it was so damned hard to get the woman to trust her.

* * *

Henry walked Archie across the car park to his vehicle, occasionally looking over his shoulder to ensure they were alone.

“As I said on the phone, she’s making progress,” Henry said quietly. “There really was no need to come out all this way.”

“I like to keep an eye on things. Besides, our sources agree that progress does seem to be being made.” Archie stood by his car and looked around the car park. “But time is of the essence, they are impatient already.”

“I know,” Henry agreed. “Time is money but I assure you that Regina is excellent at this type of case, given time she will build trust with Emma Swan and she will..”

“As I say, Henry, they are impatient already. I suggest you find a way to speed up your daughter’s progress,” Archie said as he unlocked his car and opened the driver’s door. “My influence is already diminishing, there needs to be movement now.”

“You know yourself that therapy is not an overnight solution,” Henry pointed out as Archie got into his car.

“It’s not up to me, Henry. All I can do is pass on the message, there needs to be obvious progress now or they will take other action.” Archie closed the car door and drove out of the car park.


	7. Chapter 7

Thursday afternoon at three came with no sign of Emma while Regina sat at her desk and completed in paperwork while occasionally glancing at her wristwatch. As it started to get closer to four she sighed and picked up her keys as she pushed her chair back from her desk and crossed the room to a small cupboard and opened the door.

Inside the cupboard were several filing cabinets and Regina used her keys to unlock one of the cabinets and pull out a thin beige folder. She closed and locked the filing cabinet and walked back to her desk as she flipped through the various censored documents to find the contact number she had used for Emma to make the initial appointment.

She sat back at her desk and her hand hovered over the desk telephone in order to pick up the receiver when the phone rang. She jumped slightly and quickly picked up the internal call.

“Yes, Sally?”

“There’s a call for you, Doctor Mills. It’s a Mary Swan.”

“Put her through,” Regina said quickly and picked up a pen and wrote the name on the inside of Major Swan’s file.

“This is Regina Mills,” Regina said formally, trying to not let her concern come through in her tone.

“Oh, Doctor Mills, I’m Emma’s sister, Mary. Please don’t tell her I called you, she would never forgive me.”

“I’ll not tell her,” Regina assured. “Is everything okay, we had an appointment this afternoon but she never turned up or called to cancel?”

Regina heard a sigh down the telephone line before Mary spoke again. “She’s probably embarrassed that you saw her have a panic attack, she was going to see you again but this afternoon she suddenly changed her mind and when we argued about it she stormed out of the apartment.”

“She lives with you?” Regina asked with interest as she made further notes in the file.

“Yes,” Mary replied. “Ever since.. well, I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

Regina squeezed the pen in frustration, she had been hoping that Mary would be able to provide some answers but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case.

“I.. I think she’s connecting with you,” Mary admitted cautiously. “I know my sister is hard work but I’m so worried about her. She told me that you calmed her down after her panic attack and.. well.. no one has been able to do that before.”

“I’d love to work with her but,” Regina paused and smiled. “As you say, she is hard work. And I can’t help her if she won’t see me.”

“I know where she is right now,” Mary said hesitantly. “I know it’s asking a lot but.. I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t think it was important.”

Regina let out a small sigh before asking, “where is she?”

“She’ll be down by the old docks, you know by the fishing boats? She sits there when she wants to be alone.”

Regina let out another sigh. “Okay, I’ll.. I’ll go down there and see if I can talk to her. But I really can’t promise anything.”

“I know,” Mary said with relief. “I know, just.. thank you for trying.”

* * *

Half an hour later Regina parked her car in the car park by the docks and let out a deep breath. It was one thing seeing a patient when they came to your office but it was quite another to track down your patient when they were clearly trying to avoid you. 

She looked at the temperature gauge on the dashboard of the car and sighed, the Mini had been overheating constantly lately and she knew that even if she wanted to leave the car would probably give out a mile or so up the road. 

She decided that she had come so far that it would be pointless to go back now, especially as her car would need time to cool down anyway. She got out of the car and wrapped her black trench coat tightly around her body as protection against the cold wind that was coming in from the sea. 

She walked along the wooden boards of the dock towards where the fishing boats bobbed up and down in the water and noticed a solitary figure staring out to sea. She tucked her hands into her pockets as she walked over to the benches to get a better view of the person. 

Before long she had clearly identified that it was Emma Swan, her long blonde hair a stark contrast against her own black coat. The sound of her heels on the wooden boards would have alerted Emma to someone else’s presence so Regina didn’t feel the need to announce herself as she sat on the edge of the bench next to the one where Emma sat.

“Emma, I can’t help you if you don’t show up to our sessions.”

Emma looked up at the doctor as if she was almost expecting her.

“Mary told you where I was, I presume?” Emma asked as she shook her head and looked back out towards the boats.

“Yes,” Regina saw no reason to lie. She was trying to build trust with Emma and not her sister, a common enemy could be useful later down the line.

“I would have thought my not turning up would have been a clear message that I don’t want to see you, Doctor Mills,” Emma said formally.

“Is this because of what happened when we were at the park?” Regina asked, analysing the blonde’s facial features as Emma stared dead ahead of her and avoiding eye contact. “Anxiety attacks can be very common after a traumatic experience but you don’t have to suffer them. With the right behavioural therapies and medication..”

“I don’t want therapy,” Emma said sternly as she spun her head around to look Regina in the eye. “I don’t know how many times I need to say it before you get it into your head. I don’t want therapy.”

“I don’t think you mean that,” Regina replied softly. “You wouldn’t have come back if..”

“Wow, you really don’t listen, do you?” Emma asked with a shake of her head and a disbelieving grin. “Let me break this down for you, I don’t want therapy. Never have and never will. But I certainly don’t want therapy from you, you’re underqualified and you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Regina sat up a little straighter at the aggressive tone Emma was taking. “Then why did you come back to see me?” Regina asked thinking that she was playing her ace.

Emma laughed and looked towards the boats as she bit her lip and seemed to consider the question for a moment. She turned back to Regina and leaned forward as if to whisper a secret.

“I came back because you’re hot and I wanted to get you into bed,” Emma disclosed with a sordid grin.

Regina blinked and leaned away from the blonde slightly in surprise, she certainly hadn’t expected that answer.

“But..” Regina found herself speechless before quickly recovering. “But I’m your doctor..”

“No, you’re not,” Emma shook her head. “I have never had a conversation with you which would constitute a doctor/patient relationship. I have no faith in your abilities as a therapist and I have never treated you as such. I have no formal agreement with you, no money for services has changed hands. You may be **a** doctor but you are most certainly not **my** doctor.”

“But..” Regina stammered, shocked at the revelation.

“But,” Emma continued, “all of that is now quite irrelevant because I’ve changed my mind. What started off as intriguing has now turned boring. After the picnic and your tiny Tupperware boxes and your blanket stones I realised.. well, I realised that I hate spending time with you.”

Regina’s mouth fell open and she stared at the cruel blonde in confusion for a few brief seconds before standing up and thrusting her hands back into her coat pockets so Emma couldn’t see them shaking.

“Very well, Major Swan,” Regina said with a slight waver in her voice. “You’ve made yourself quite clear and I’m not about to allow you any further chance at this character assassination or to.. to waste my time any longer!”

Regina turned to leave and paused for a moment before turning back towards Emma. “But don’t think I don’t notice your choice of words, you say you don’t want therapy but I think we both know that you need therapy. You’re angry and you’re lashing out to hurt people and your advanced intellect makes that extremely successful for you as you know exactly which buttons to press to inflict damage.”

Emma’s eyes flicked away from the brunette and Regina hoped she was correct in thinking that she had detected a hint of guilt in Emma’s expression before she turned away.

“I would love to help you, Emma, I believe I could but you are so determined to suffer alone and I can’t.. I won’t suffer with you.”

Regina marched heavily across the wooden dock while being careful to not turn around and let Emma see that she had tears in her eyes. When she arrived back at the Mini she quickly unlocked the car and climbed into the small vehicle and fumbled to get the key into the ignition. She twisted the key and the car engine spluttered a few times.

“Oh, don’t you dare,” she whispered to the car. “Not now.”

Regina was used to her fifty year old car giving her trouble at the least productive of times but when she was trying to make a quick getaway from her ex-patient was a new line in inconvenience. 

She leaned back in the worn soft seat and stared at the still high thermometer gauge before looking up towards the docks. She was beyond thankful to see that Emma hadn’t followed her and turned around to see a diner across the road. 

Quickly making her mind up she opened the car door again and got out and slammed the car door closed behind her.

“Buck your ideas up,” she told the car firmly before walking towards the diner to drown her sorrows in a drink while she waited for her car to cool down.


	8. Chapter 8

In the brightly lit and sparsely populated diner Regina sat on a stool at the bar leaning her head into her cupped hand and staring into the murky darkness of the coffee cup on the counter in front her. 

She was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of the stool besides her being occupied and she lazily looked up and noticed Emma sitting beside her.

“I thought you hated spending time with me,” Regina commented dully.

Emma let out a soft sigh as she arranged her bag and coat beneath her chair. “Don’t mention the word ‘therapy’ for the next hour and we’re good. Shots?”

Regina sluggishly looked up and tilted her head to regard Emma for a couple of moments before slowly nodding her head.

Emma nodded her head in an obliged reply and looked up to the bartender. “Two vodka shots.”

The bartender nodded and placed two shot glasses on the counter and splashed vodka into each before heading back up to the other end of the bar.

Emma took one of the glasses and slid it in front of Regina and then picked up the other and raised it up to toast Regina but Regina just regarded her wearisomely.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said meaningfully and her eyes shone in such a way that made Regina feel that it was a heartfelt apology even though it was brief.

With a sigh Regina picked up her glass and clinked it to Emma’s and both women downed the shot quickly. Regina instantly recoiled and shook her head in a pointless attempt to rid herself of the sharp taste.

Emma grinned at the brunette with amusement. “Not used to shots?”

“I’ve never done shots,” Regina admitted. “That’s vile, why would anyone do that?”

Emma let out a laugh and gestured to the bartender for two more shots. “I don’t know, let’s do it again and see if we can figure it out.”

Regina took a sip of coffee from her cup and eyed the refilled shot glass warily.

“What is this supposed to accomplish?” Regina asked.

“I don’t know,” Emma said honestly. “I just didn’t want to leave it that way so when I saw you come in here..”

Emma lifted her shot glass. “Come on, you don’t want to fall behind.”

“I don’t think I want to do this at all,” Regina commented but picked the glass up regardless.

“Trust me, the first one is the worst. It gets better,” Emma said with a smile.

Regina nodded her head and Emma clinked the bottom of her glass to the top of Regina’s and quickly threw the vodka down her throat. Regina watched her suspiciously and when she saw that Emma didn’t reacted she did the same and immediately shuddered at the burning liquid.

Emma laughed again and order two more shots from the bartender and watched we amusement as Regina sipped at her coffee to attempt to rid her mouth of the taste of the pure alcohol. Once the drinks were poured Emma lined up each glass in front of them.

“Did you mean what you said?” Regina asked.

“Which bit?” Emma fidgeted with the shot glass on the counter.

“Never mind.” Regina quickly shook her head.

As Regina stared into her coffee cup Emma looked up at the brunette and let out a small sigh. “I don’t think you’re underqualified.”

Regina monotonously nodded her head.

Emma frowned and then continued, “and I don’t think that you’re boring.” At Regina’s lack of response Emma tried again, “and I don’t hate spending time with you. Clearly.”

Regina nodded again. “Thank you.”

Emma held up her shot glass and Regina winced as she took her own glass and clinked it against Emma’s and again downed the shot of liquid. 

“That is awful,” Regina winced as she slammed the glass down on the counter.

“Yep, it really is. Two more please,” Emma addressed the bartender.

“I can’t drink any more, I’m driving home.”

“I’ll pay for a taxi,” Emma said as she indicated for the bartender to ignore Regina’s words and go on pouring the shots.

Regina paused to consider the offer and then nodded her head slowly.

“And yes, I meant that I think you’re hot and I was trying to get you into bed,” Emma confessed.

Regina flushed red with embarrassment and quickly looked back down into her coffee cup again.

“But I’m not trying to get you drunk now,” Emma clarified. “This is my fucked up way of apologising for being a bitch to you just now.”

“How did you..” Regina whispered and trailed off to look at Emma with a raised eyebrow.

“Know you were a lesbian?” Emma clarified.

Regina nodded and a cheeky smile crept across Emma’s face.

“Well, that’s easy. You’re hot, very hot. And at your age you’d probably be married by now if you were straight so it stands to reason that you’re either single because there is something seriously wrong with you or because you are fishing from a reduced pool, aka a lesbian.”

Regina looked at Emma with an incredulous expression. “Are you saying I’m old?”

“Jesus, that’s what you took from that? No, I’m saying you’re hot.”

“You’re saying that you’d expect me to be married by my age,” Regina shook her head. “You know, you are very rude..”

“But I’m right, you’re gay, aren’t you?” Emma asked with a cocky smile.

Regina held up her shot glass and Emma laughed as she clinked her glass to Regina’s and they both downed another shot.

“Two more please,” Regina said to the bartender before Emma had a chance.

“Also, you totally checked out my chest,” Emma said in a low tone as the bartender served two more shots.

“I did not!” Regina said quickly.

“You did,” Emma said as she pulled her shot glass towards her. “I was flattered.”

“I did not check you out,” Regina hissed as the bartender left them to it again.

“Maybe you did it subconsciously, maybe you should speak to someone about it,” Emma suggested with a smirk.

“I’m not so sure I accept your apology,” Regina joked with a sigh as she looked away.

Emma looked dead ahead and the mirror behind the bar and used the reflective surface to examine Regina’s profile.

“I didn’t immediately have panic attacks after the accident,” Emma suddenly revealed. “It took weeks for them to start and the intensity of them has increased over time.”

Regina lightly shook her head at the confusion of the quick topic change, the alcohol already beginning to dull her senses.

“I can’t stand to see an open flame,” Emma confessed and held up her shot glass.

Regina picked up her own glass and clinked it to Emma’s and they both drank the clear liquid. As soon as they lowered the glasses to the counter the bartender placed the bottle of vodka in front of them.

“Help yourselves, ladies,” he said with a wink and carried on emptying the dishwasher at the end of the bar.

Emma poured vodka into the two glasses. “There, I’m sharing. But it has to be a two way street, so tell me what happened with your mom..”

Regina let out a shaky breath but nodded her head in agreement. “She took an overdose. She.. she forged my signature to get a prescription and within a couple of hours she was gone.”

“Any warning signs?” Emma asked softly.

“Plenty, but my father and I were too busy squabbling with each other to ever see them. It was only after the event that we noticed them,” Regina admitted and picked up the shot glass and drank the liquid. Emma picked up the bottle and filled the glass again without speaking. 

“She’d planned everything. Every detail. All the relevant paperwork was out and she had put notes on different documents so we knew what they meant. And her will was all in order and.. and..” Regina stuttered as a sob overcome her.

Emma quickly wrapped her arm around the brunette’s shoulder supportively and Regina took a few deep breaths to calm herself. When Regina nodded her head Emma removed her arm and continued playing with the small glass of vodka in front of her.

“What was the accident?” Regina asked.

Emma bit her lip and grinned knowingly as she slowly nodded her head. “I presume you’ve signed a D11H/42?”

“I don’t think there’s anything I haven’t signed.” Regina let out a dry chuckle.

“I think you already know what happened,” Emma said as she looked sideways at Regina.

“Maybe I want to hear it from you?” Regina said with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Tell me what you think and I’ll tell you if you’re right or wrong,” Emma suggested.

“Okay, well, you told me that you’re a developmental engineer,” Regina began and Emma nodded her head. “And you told me that you worked within the alternative fuel division.”

Emma nodded again. “Go on.”

“Which indicates that you work with combustible fuels. You have anxiety around open flames,” Regina continued. “Which would indicate to me that there was a fire. You are a strong-willed individual so there must have been a trauma, you don’t seem injured yourself so I imagine you saw someone else become injured, possibly be killed.”

“Bingo,” Emma said as she raised her glass and waited for Regina to do the same.

“Tell me in your own words,” Regina requested. 

Emma lowered her glass and sighed as she looked around the diner for a moment before turning to look at Regina. 

“The abridged version, okay?”

Regina nodded her head.

“And this doesn’t constitute therapy, this is just two people having a drink in a bar. Nothing more.”

Regina nodded her head again.

“I can’t tell you the specifics of what we were working on but you’re right, there was a fire. It was.. it shouldn’t have happened. All the data pointed to it being impossible but, well, it happened. An explosion in the middle of the lab, fire just appeared, the air changed from air to white heat in a matter of a split second. Three of my team were in the lab, I was in the next room and there was nothing I could do because it happened so fast. They died, one instantly and the other two within a few hours.”

Regina swallowed hard at the mental imagery conjured by the story. “I am so sorry, Emma.”

Emma lifted up her shot glass and gestured towards Regina’s with a sombre face and the brunette picked up her glass and after a chink of glasses they both drained the vodka shots.

“Why’s your father a dick?” Emma asked as she refilled the glasses.

Regina rolled her eyes at the mere mention of her father. “I don’t want to go into it,” she said quietly, slurring her words slightly.

Emma lowered the half-empty vodka bottle to the counter as she attempted to casually ask, “is it.. serious?”

Regina frowned in confusion, the alcohol dulling her synapses until suddenly she understood what Emma was asking. 

“Oh! No, no, nothing like that. No, he’s just a harsh taskmaster but nothing unpleasant,” she assured Emma.

“Are you sure?” Emma asked with a serious tone as she stared at Regina.

“Absolutely, he isn’t violent in any manner,” Regina said with clarity and a nod of her head.

“Good, when you said Henry was a dick I just couldn’t stop myself from worrying about what you meant,” Emma admitted.

“Henry!” Regina jumped off of the stool and looked at her watch.

“Whoa, calm down,” Emma said as she watched Regina wobble in her high heels as she looked around for her bag and her coat. “What’s wrong?”

“Henry, I have to get Henry,” Regina looked very seriously at Emma as she grabbed the blonde’s elbow both for support and to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation.

“Cat Henry? Right?” Emma asked with a laugh.

“Yes, cat Henry! Cat Henry is at the vet, I need to pick him up before they close!” Regina said as she picked up her handbag and fumbled with the clasp for a moment.

Emma pulled her wallet from her pocket and laid some bills on the counter and waved Regina’s hand away from her handbag. 

“Come on, get your coat on, it’s windy outside and I’ll get us a taxi,” Emma said as she asked the bartender to make a call for them.

“He has a heart murmur,” Regina explained as she put one arm in her coat sleeve and fished around for the other coat sleeve with little success.

Emma rolled her eyes as she helped the brunette with her coat. “Cat Henry sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“I love him,” Regina said earnestly.

Emma chuckled. “Wow, you really can’t handle your alcohol can you?”

“He’s like my best friend,” Regina explained.

“You need to get out more,” Emma said as the sound of a car horn from outside sounded to indicate that the taxi had arrived.

“He’ll never forgive me leaving him there this long,” Regina said as she walked towards the door quickly.

“You know where the vet is, yes?” Emma asked as she picked up Regina’s phone and keys that she had left on the counter in her hurry to get to the taxi.

“What if he thinks I’ve forgotten him?” Regina asked Emma as she stumbled out of the door.

Emma held Regina’s arm and guided her to the taxi. “This better be the cutest cat ever for all this fuss.”


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as they left the bar it became clear that Regina was very drunk and Emma felt simultaneously guilty for pouring her shots and glad that she had chosen to accompany the brunette rather than dropping her in a taxi. That soon ended when they turned up at the veterinarian practice and Regina could barely open the car door and Emma was forced to go inside and pick up Henry. The taxi driver gave her a pleading look and muttered for her to hurry up, not being happy about being left to babysit the inebriated doctor as well as the news that a cat was about to be joining the journey.

Emma entered the practice and crossed quickly through the empty waiting room and approached the reception desk.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up a cat,” Emma said as she leant on the desk and looked around the room with droll interest.

“Name?” The blonde receptionist poised her fingers over the keyboard.

“Emma Swan,” Emma replied as she examined a poster about the dangers of heartworm.

“There’s no Emma Swan in the surgery at the moment, Miss?” 

“No, I’m Emma Swan,” Emma explained. “I’m here to pick up a cat, the cat’s name is Henry.”

“Last name?”

“Seriously?” Emma asked with an incredulous chuckle.

The receptionist looked at Emma frankly with a raised eyebrow and her hands poised over the keyboard again.

“Mills,” Emma said slowly. “I’m here to pick up Henry Mills.”

The receptionist typed some details into the computer and examined the information on her screen before nodding. “I’ll see if he’s ready to go home.”

Emma watched the receptionist leave the room and shook her head in disbelief. “Crazy..” she muttered to herself as she walked around the reception. Emma had never owned a pet in her life, when she was young she was too busy studying to be able to give a pet the care and attention it deserved and once she joined the Air Force any ideas of pet ownership were permanently quashed. The whole notion of caring for a defenceless creature was frankly absurd to her.

“Good evening, I’m Doctor Church.”

Emma turned around to see a friendly old man with greying hair and glasses approach her with a cat carrier in his hand.

“Emma Swan,” Emma greeted and shook hands with the veterinarian. “Doctor Mills is.. otherwise engaged so she asked me to come here and get Henry for her.”

Doctor Church smiled and nodded his head in understanding as he lowered the carrier to the floor and held up a plastic bag for Emma to take.

“Henry’s heart murmur has not developed in any negative way so we see no reason to change his current care package.”

“Current care package?” Emma asked as she took the plastic bag and attempted to smother her amused smile.

“Yes, the medication will last him for another month and of course I’ve included his special food,” Doctor Church explained. “If Doctor Mills has any questions please ask her to give me a call and I’ll be happy to go through the results of the latest x-ray.”

“Jesus,” Emma muttered under her breath before raising her voice, “thank you, I’ll pass the message on.”

Doctor Church bent down and picked up the cat carrier and handed it to Emma. She had been expecting a lighter weight so when he released his hold on the carrier she stumbled slightly but quickly recovered.

“Wow, heavy boy,” Emma commented as she attempted to angle the carrier to look inside to no avail.

“Indeed,” Doctor Church said with a knowing smile. “I have spoken to Doctor Mills about putting Henry on a diet but.. well.. she clearly dotes on him.”

“I’ll say,” Emma agreed with a shake of her head as she adjusted her grip on the carrier as Henry moved about the carrier.

A few moments later and Emma was walking back towards the taxi with the heavy cat carrier and the plastic bag, as she opened the door to the back seat she saw Regina sprawled across the entire seat asleep. 

“She passed out,” the taxi driver helpfully told her.

“Yeah, thanks, I kinda noticed that.” Emma rolled her eyes and closed the door again. She opened the front passenger door and threw the plastic bag of medicine and cat food into the foot-well before navigating into the seat and placing the cat carrier on her lap.

“Is the cat going to pee in my car?” The driver asked as Emma closed the car door and attempted to put her seatbelt on.

“No idea,” Emma replied with annoyance. “To be honest I’ve not even seen if there’s a cat in here. Could be a miniature pony or a bunch of rocks for all I know.”

The driver leaned forward and peered in through the air slits in the top of the large plastic container. After a moment he leaned back again and started the engine. “Lady, I don’t know what’s in there but I can tell you one thing, it’s got pissed off green eyes.”

* * *

When they arrived at Regina’s apartment, the address of which she had relayed to Emma the second they got in the taxi, Regina woke up and sat up with disorientation. Emma was in the process of paying the driver and opening the door to get Regina out of the car.

Regina stepped out of the car and looked down at the cat carrier on the ground and smiled. “Henry,” she whispered happily. 

“He snores,” Emma said as she closed the car door and the taxi pulled away.

“He can’t breath properly sometimes,” Regina sighed sadly.

“He’s fat.”

“He is a little overweight,” Regina replied defensively as she swayed a little.

“I didn’t know if I was lifting a cat or an anvil.” Emma picked up the cat carrier again and thrust Regina’s handbag and the plastic bag of veterinary supplied into Regina’s hands. “Which floor?”

“Top,” Regina said as she pointed into the dark sky. “Up there!”

“Wow, you’re never doing shots again,” Emma said as they walked up the short flight of stairs and into the front door of the apartment block.

“Good they taste horrible,” Regina said as she rummaged through the plastic bag. “Are both the medications in here?”

“I have no idea, it’s what the vet gave me. And, by the way, this cat has a better healthcare plan than I do,” Emma said as she approached the elevator and rolled her eyes at noticing the out of order sign. 

Clearly the broken elevator was a regular occurrence as Regina headed straight for the stairs without even glancing at the metal doorway. The brunette held on tightly to the bannister rail as they walked up three flights of stairs in silence until they came to the top floor of the small block. Down a short corridor was the front door to the one and only apartment on the top floor and Regina fumbled in her handbag for a few moments before finally finding her keys and opening the door.

Emma waited for Regina to wobble her way into the apartment before she also entered and lowered the carrier to the floor.

“Shall I let him out?” Emma asked as she gestured to the carrier, curious as to what was inside.

“Make sure you close the front door first,” Regina said as she leant against a wall and plucked her high heels off and dropped them to the wooden floor below.

Emma closed the front door. “So, he doesn’t go out?”

“No, he’s a housecat, never been outside,” Regina said as she attempted to take her coat off but failed to catch her own sleeve.

Emma nodded and smiled at the disorientated brunette as she bent down and carefully unclipped the latches that held the metal grill of the cat carrier in place. She pulled the grill away and stood back quickly as she expected Henry to rush out but nothing happened.

Emma looked up to Regina who was hanging her coat, which she had finally managed to extract from her body, in the hallway closet. “He won’t come out.”

Regina waved her hand vaguely. “He’ll come out when he wants to. Can I get you some coffee?”

The way Regina slurred the words made Emma smile. “Sure, I’ll have some coffee, you certainly need some.”

“I’m fine,” Regina assured with further slurring as she walked into the apartment.

Emma cast one last glance at the car carrier before she followed Regina. Out of the small hallway Emma looked around Regina’s apartment with interest as she attempted to size up the woman and get to know her based on her home surroundings. Unlike the office which was painted in dreary greys the apartment was bursting with colour and energy, tastefully decorated in a series of Victorian colours which complemented the high ceilings and brick walls of the old apartment. An open-plan layout provided access to a kitchen, small dining area and then a living room which seemed to double as an art studio with large canvases stacked against the wall. A doorway to another corridor presumably led towards the rest of the apartment.

A cluttering sound of pots and pans caught Emma’s attention and she turned to see Regina noisily emptying the dishwasher while humming a tune to herself.

“Want a hand?” Emma asked as she walked towards the kitchen area, a wary eye still watching the dark interior of the cat carrier in the hallway.

“Not from you,” Regina said with a sniff.

Emma raised an amused eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You were extremely rude to me earlier,” Regina said, waving a wooden spoon in Emma’s direction. “I’m not sure I’ve forgiven you yet.”

“I just carried your obese pet up three flights of stairs,” Emma pointed out.

“He’s big boned,” Regina pointed out quickly.

Emma made a face of exasperation and pulled out a dining chair and sat down heavily. “So, other than getting you home safely, paying for a taxi and dragging your big boned cat up to the top floor.. is there anything else I can do to be forgiven?”

Regina placed two mugs on the counter and attempted to spoon some coffee into the coffee machine. “I can’t be your doctor anymore.”

Emma let out a small chuckle. “As I said before, I don’t want you as my doctor. I’ve never seen you as my doctor.”

“It’s completely unethical to be your therapist,” Regina continued as she poured the ground coffee back into the packet and started to count spoonfuls into the machine again.

“Absolutely,” Emma agreed with a grin. “So, we’re in agreement, you’re not my doctor and I’m not your patient?”

Regina closed the lid to the coffee machine and looked up and nodded. “No, especially as you think I’m incompetent.”

“I never said incompetent, I said underqualified,” Emma corrected with a sigh. “And I apologised for that. I lashed out at you and I’m sorry. And that’s the second time I have apologised for it and I feel I should point out that this is unprecedented.” 

Regina shrugged with disinterest as she watched the coffee machine drip black liquid into a glass jug. “Did you only come back to therapy to attempt to seduce me?”

“I never attended therapy,” Emma corrected. “But I did continue to see you with that intention, yes.”

“Why?” Regina asked softly as she looked up shyly at Emma.

“Why?” Emma repeated with a grin. “Because.. well, look at you.”

“So you wanted to.. to conquer me because of my looks?” Regina clarified.

Emma paused. “Well, no. Not just that. You.. I find you interesting. I wanted to get to know you, I guess. But I’m really not someone who has relationships.”

“Why?” Regina asked.

“I don’t do commitment.”

“Commitment can be a wonderful thing,” Regina said distractedly as she put sugar cubes into a small bowl and poured milk into a small jug. “Partnership, being there for one another..”

“Sounds like a fairy tale,” Emma commented and turned to look away from Regina. Movement caught her eye and she stood up in shock and backed away as Henry slowly crept into the room. “Whoa, that’s a beast!”

Regina turned to look at what Emma was referring to. “He’s not a beast, he’s my baby,” she said as she walked over and picked him up and held him close to her chest.

Emma stared at the overweight mass of long grey, black and white fur with hesitation. Henry was enormous and stared at Emma through tiny slits while he purred loudly at Regina’s soothing vocalisations, his facial expression conveyed a bad-temper and his entire demeanour matched. 

“Don’t worry about her, she’s just a little grumpy, like you,” Regina cooed to Henry as she cuddled him tightly.

Emma attempted to look offended as she rolled her eyes. “Should have left you in the bar and you with the vet,” she said to each of them as she took over coffee making duties.

Within a few minutes Emma had successfully navigated Regina towards the comfortable looking sofa in the living room and set out the coffee on the table in front of them. As Emma methodically worked Regina watched her closely and Henry slinked away to another room.

Emma sat down on the sofa beside Regina and looked at the intoxicated brunette with a smirk. “See something you like?”

“It’s nice having you here,” Regina admitted as she stared at Emma.

Emma bit her lip gently, she hadn’t expected that response and began to wonder how drunk Regina was. “I had to see you safely home.”

“Very caring of you,” Regina commented.

“Well, it’s my fault you’re drunk,” Emma said, wanting to gently remind the brunette of her mental state.

“I did check you out,” Regina suddenly blurted out. “On that first day. I hadn’t been expecting a woman and when I saw you were Major Swan I have to admit I was very impressed and..”

Regina launched herself forward and pressed Emma firmly down onto her back and latched her lips onto Emma’s in an impassioned kiss. Shock was the first thing Emma felt followed closely by desire as Regina threaded her fingers through Emma’s hands and pressed warm wet kisses across Emma’s lips. Emma managed to free one of her hands from underneath her body and wrapped it around Regina in an attempt to hold the squirming brunette still but Regina writhed on top of her regardless. The bitter taste of the vodka shots filtered into Emma’s mouth and her conscience started to question whether or not she should allow the contact to continue. Her mind was made up when Regina grabbed Emma’s hand and placed it firmly on her breast causing sense and reason to come flashing into Emma’s mind like a sharp and cold jolt.

“Regina, stop,” Emma said as she forced the brunette back and fell from the sofa to the floor and quickly stood up and walked back a few steps. “I.. I can’t.. not like this. You’re drunk.”

Regina looked up at Emma with desire clear in her eyes. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? No attachments, just the physical act?”

Emma shook her head quickly. “I don’t want to take advantage of you,” Emma said as she simultaneously wondered where her sense of chivalry had suddenly appeared from. 

Regina slumped back on the sofa and regarded the blonde with hazy eyes. “You’re not taking advantage..”

Emma smiled a melancholic smile as she started to realise just how drunk Regina was. “How about we talk about this again, in the morning? When we’re both sober?”

Regina lowered her head to the pillow on the sofa. “You’re being silly,” she said through a tired yawn. 

“Humour me,” Emma replied as she picked up a blanket from an armchair and draped it over Regina. She briefly considered helping the brunette to bed but she knew for certain that she would not be able to stop herself a second time if Regina were to kiss her again.

“I don’t like shots,” Regina whispered as she turned to adjust her position on the sofa.

“No more shots,” Emma whispered in reply and gently stepped away from the almost-sleeping woman. She switched off the coffee maker in the kitchen and made her way to the front door and picked up Regina’s keys from the side table, feeling like she was being watched she turned to see Henry looking up at her with a grouchy expression.

“Keep an eye on her, fat beast,” Emma told him quietly.

Henry glared at her and she opened the door and exited the apartment, she locked the door behind her and posted the keys back through the letterbox and let out a frustrated sigh as she walked down the stairs.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma slammed the front door to her shared apartment and walked straight into the living room and opened up a glass drinks cabinet and pulled out an ornate looking bottle of amber-coloured alcohol. As she picked up a glass and closed the cabinet Mary rushed into the living room in her sleepwear and let out a relieved sigh.

“Oh, Emma, thank goodness,” Mary gasped as she saw her sister safe and well. “I was so worried, you didn’t answer your phone!”

“Busy night.” Emma shrugged as she lowered herself into the sofa and placed the bottle and glass in front of her. “Drink?”

“No.” Mary shook her head but sat in the armchair opposite and pulled the soft grey blanket from the back of the chair and snuggled under it.

“Why did you tell her where I was?” Emma asked as she poured the amber liquid into the glass.

“She found you then?” Mary asked with a happy smile.

“Yes, she found me,” Emma replied with a roll of her eyes. “That is the last time I trust you with any private information.”

Mary shrugged her shoulder without care, her sister had threatened such actions so many times that it now held no meaning. 

“Have you been with Regina all this time?” Mary asked before she suddenly realised the implication and looked shocked. “Oh, Emma.. you didn’t?”

“Nearly,” Emma said as she took a sip of her drink and winced at the sharpness. 

“She stopped you,” Mary stated with an understanding nod.

“No, I stopped her,” Emma replied with a grin.

Mary blinked in shock. “Wait a minute.. she.. you.. what happened?”

“The short story is that she was drunk and kissed me,” Emma said and punctuated her sentence with another gulp of alcohol. “I stopped it there.”

“But she’s your doctor!” Mary cried.

Emma sighed and shook her head in despair that her sister couldn’t grasp the concept. “She is not my doctor. As I explained to her.”

“What did you say to her? Did you.. did you tell her..”

“That I intended on sleeping with her, yes,” Emma confessed. “And she had the same horrified reaction about doctor and patient malpractice until I explained to her that she has never been my therapist and never will be.”

“And then she kissed you?”

“Well, there were a lot of shots in between the two, but yes.”

“She did shots?” Mary frowned. 

“I might have encouraged her..” 

“Emma, did you get her drunk?” Mary admonished, she knew her sister’s drinking skills were legendary with good reason.

“I suggested shots but I didn’t force them down her throat,” Emma shrugged as she topped up her glass.

“Emma..” Mary chastised.

“Don’t do that, I took the high road. I could be in her bed right now rather than sat here talking to you and drinking this awful Hibiscus gin you insist on making.”

“You insist on drinking it,” Mary pointed out. “Besides, I just like making flavoured alcohol.”

“You don’t drink! You make flavoured alcohol and I drink it!” Emma swigged another mouthful down. “You’re an enabler.”

“And you’re bitter and lashing out at me because you did the right thing when you could have been selfish and you’re upset with yourself because of it,” Mary nodded with finality.

“I think I like her,” Emma confessed in the softest of tones.

“Yeah, you do,” Mary said as she stood up and wrapped the blanket further around herself. “Good luck with that.”

Emma watched incredulously as her sister started to leave and jumped to her feet. “Wait a minute!”

Mary turned around and regarded her sister with tired boredom. “Hmm?”

“’Good luck with that’? Is that all you’ve got to say?” Emma asked.

Mary sighed. “Look, we both know you’ll do exactly what you want to do. Any advice I might give you is just a waste of my breath, so.. yeah.. good luck with that is about all I have to give.”

“Unbelievable,” Emma flopped back onto the sofa. “You lecture me on everything but when I have a real big emotional thing happening you.. you have nothing to say!”

Mary rolled her eyes at her sister’s overly dramatic statement and shuffled a few steps closer and pulled her blanket tighter and balled her hands in the excess material.

“Look, you like her.. she obviously likes you. Drunk or not she wouldn’t have kissed you if she wasn’t interested. Maybe she’ll be good for you? Maybe if you could stretch yourself and be nice to her she might want to see you?” Mary said with a cheeky grin.

“You’re really mean,” Emma grouched with a small smile.

“I learnt from the very best,” Mary replied with a smile. “Go and see her first thing, don’t leave it or you’ll overthink things. Take it from there.”

Emma regarded her sister thoughtfully for a few moments and then nodded. “I will, thanks Mary.”

“Night Emma, don’t stay up too late,” Mary said with a smile as she returned to bed.


	11. Chapter 11

Regina slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times as she saw Henry sitting on the coffee table in front of her and regarding her with a curious tilt of his fluffy head. It was then that she realised she wasn’t in her bed, or in her nightgown. She turned and winced at the cracking in her back and neck and realised she was laying in an uncomfortable position on her sofa. With a hand held to her forehead she sat up and saw two cups of cold and undrunk coffee on the table in front of her, looking down she noticed she was still in her work clothes.

Henry stepped from the coffee table to the sofa where she had just sat and gave her a friendly head bump to the back with caused her to move forward. With a wince she realised she had been drinking the night before and then with a gasp she started to piece together the events of exactly what had happened prior to crashing out on the sofa. Going to speak to Emma at the docks, the harsh words, the bar and the shots and then. She swallowed hard as she remembered pouncing on Emma and kissing her like there would be no tomorrow. 

She lowered her head into her hands and let out a deep sigh.

“Oh, Henry, remind mommy to never drink again,” she said softly.

The mention of his name caused Henry to start purring loudly and Regina lowered a hand and gently scratched under his chin. Suddenly Regina realised she had passed out and had no idea if Emma had left or was still in the apartment, she quickly looked around the open plan room and couldn’t see the blonde. Standing up she hurriedly checked out the bathroom and the bedroom and was relieved to find both empty, she was ashamed enough by her behaviour and she certainly didn’t want Emma to see her first thing in the morning and sporting a hangover. 

She walked into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in horror. “Good grief, I look like I’m dressed up for Halloween,” she muttered to herself as she gently touched the black marks under her eyes. 

Henry walked into the bathroom and jumped up onto the edge of the bath.

“Henry, no,” Regina said as she glared at him and the feisty feline jumped back down to the floor again with a scowl.

The doorbell sounded and Regina stared at Henry in shock and covered her mouth with her hand. A quick mental calculation told her that it was Friday and luckily she wasn’t due in the office that day, she wasn’t expecting any deliveries and certainly no company. 

The doorbell sounded again and Regina quickly tiptoed through the apartment and towards the hallway where Henry’s open cat carrier still sat in the centre of the floor. She edged around the carrier and peaked through the peephole and immediately jumped back in surprise at the sight of Emma standing in the hallway whistling to herself happily.

Henry entered the hallway and let out a meow at his mistress and Regina gave him a filthy look and waved her arms around silently to shut him up.

“I know you’re in there,” Emma called out from the other side of the door. “You can stop gagging your cat to be quiet.”

Regina looked from the door to Henry with panic as she attempted to make a decision on whether or not to call Emma’s bluff and pretend she was out.

“Because you can’t have gone anywhere because you don’t have your car keys,” Emma continued.

Regina looked at the floor and saw her keys laying on the mat minus her car key. She quickly worked out that Emma must have locked her in and posted the keys back through the door but had no idea what had happened to her car keys.

“Fine, looks like I just inherited a racing green mini with a squeaky driver’s seat,” Emma said with a faux sigh.

Regina opened the door a crack and looked at Emma, pressing her face to the gap in the hope that Emma wouldn’t see what a mess she was. 

“You took my car keys?” Regina questioned.

“Yeah,” Emma said with a smile at Regina’s caginess. “It got left at the docks because of me so I took the keys to drive it back for you. Which I have now done.”

Emma held up the key, just far away for Regina to not be able to snatch it and close the door.

“I also reattached the radiator coolant pipe,” Emma said with a grin. “Which was causing the little heap to overheat.”

“It’s not a heap,” Regina replied. She felt Henry behind her feet and pushed him backwards gently. “No, Henry!”

“Aww, the beast wants to see me.” Emma chuckled.

“He’s just fascinated with the outside world.” Regina corrected. 

“Let him see it, then,” Emma said with a shrug.

“It would be too overwhelming for him. He has never been outside this apartment.”

“So?” Emma asked with another chuckle.

“So, he has never felt the wind in his fur or seen a dog or heard a car,” Regina said as she turned slightly to push Henry back again.

“Then maybe you should let me in instead of speaking through a gap in the door? Then you could properly thank me for not only returning but also fixing your car and Henry would be unable to escape his prison.”

Regina let out a sigh, she knew Emma wasn’t about to let up easily so she nodded and turned around and picked Henry up as she opened the door. 

“One errant comment regarding my appearance and I shall set Henry on you,” Regina said with a sniff.

“Understood,” Emma said with a smile as she stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind her. “Been up long?” Emma asked as she crouched down and picked up the house keys from the floor and reattached the car key to the bunch and returned them to the side table where she had found them.

“About ten minutes,” Regina admitted as she lowered Henry to the ground and went to the kitchen and started to fill the kettle. “How come you are awake and.. and..”

“And?” Emma asked with a smile.

“Operational.”

“A tolerance to alcohol caused by frequent encounters, I haven’t had a hangover for many years,” Emma answered easily.

“Nor have I, but not for the same reason,” Regina commented. 

Emma walked over to the coffee table and picked up the cooled drinks and brought them into the kitchen and empty the dark liquid and started to wash up. “I was going to clean up yesterday but I didn’t want to wake you.”

Regina blushed. “Please, don’t remind me, I’m mortified.”

“That you passed out? Twice if you include that time in the taxi,” Emma added with a chuckle.

“What part of ‘please don’t remind me’ was unclear?” Regina asked with a smile.

“Well, I have to remind you in order to talk about it,” Emma said as she snatched a tea towel from the handle of the oven and dried the mugs.

“You.. you want to talk about it?” Regina clarified with a nervous stammer.

“Of course,” Emma replied with a cheeky grin. “The professional Doctor Regina Mills getting drunk in a bar and practically attacking me on her sofa, who wouldn’t want to talk about that?”

Regina let out a low groan and Emma laughed and quickly added, “but that can be later, when you’ve eaten something and had some time to wake up. I take it you’re not working today?”

Regina opened a cupboard and stared at some cereal boxes. “No, luckily I’d already planned to take the day off.”

“Well, as we’re both at a loose end, maybe we can spend breakfast together?” Emma suggested casually. “Well, you’re breakfast at any rate. I’ve eaten.”

Regina turned to regard Emma with surprise.

“Don’t worry, I promise not to insult your professional qualifications or ply you with alcohol,” Emma said as she prepared coffee. “Although your weird little car and your beastly fat cat are totally up for discussion.”

Regina let out a laugh at Emma’s jokey tone and shook her head as she turned around and chose a cereal. “He’s not fat.”

Emma barked out a laugh. “Oh, please, that cat is fat. And he can’t understand what we’re saying so the only feelings we are protection are yours.”

Regina poured cereal into a bowl and lifted the box towards Emma but the blonde shook her head. “It’s hard to get him to exercise, he gets all wheezy and I hate it. Although I have discovered that he puts on fake wheezing when he is trying to get round me.”

Emma regarded Regina with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously, cats are very intelligent creatures.”

Regina took her bowl of cereal to the dining table and sat down and Emma placed a mug of coffee in front of her and stood and sipped her own.

“So, how do you encourage a housecat to exercise?” Emma asked as she watched Henry lounge on the sofa.

“Games and toys,” Regina explained. “Although Henry only plays with two things.”

“And what are they?” Emma asked.

Regina stood up and walked into the hallway and opened the closet and took out a small wooden box and put it on the table. Henry looked at her with interest and Emma opened the box and picked up one of the items. “Cat nip bubbles?”

Regina returned to her cereal and nodded.

“May I?” Emma asked as she gestured the bottle.

“Be my guest,” Regina nodded.

Emma laughed as Henry darted over to her with excitement at the sight of the familiar bottle. “Whoa there, beast,” Emma said to him as she pulled out the lid with an attached plastic circle and gently blew bubbles towards Henry.

Henry pounced on each bubble with ferocious speed and then looked up at Emma expectantly. 

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I never would have thought you could move that fast,” Emma told him and walked towards the living room. “Let’s make you work for it a bit now.”

Regina ate her breakfast and started to feel more human while she watched Emma rushing around the apartment attempting to make Henry chase her and the bubbles. Despite Emma calling him ‘beast’ it was clear she was enjoying herself even if Henry was uncertain about her and mainly interest in the bubbles. 

“Thank you for bringing my car back,” Regina said.

“You’re welcome,” Emma replied with a courteous nod.

“And I’m sorry about.. last night,” Regina said as she took her bowl to the sink to hide her face.

“Which part?” Emma asked with a grin.

“You know which part,” Regina said seriously.

“The kiss?” Emma clarified with a wider grin.

Regina nodded with embarrassment and turned away. 

“It was a surprise, but a far from unpleasant one,” Emma remarked. “And I’d like a repeat. When you’re sober, and ready.”

Regina looked up at Emma who had turned her attention towards Henry and blew a long stream of bubbles in the air to encourage Henry to jump and swipe at them.

“What are you saying?” Regina questioned lightly.

Emma looked at Regina with a smile. “I’m saying that I want to see you again, outside of your office, of course. Maybe dinner? Maybe tonight?”

Regina blushed and looked away as she focused on wiping down the already clean counter.

“Is that a yes or a maybe?” Emma asked, chuckling at Regina’s uncertainty.

“Yes,” Regina mumbled. Then she looked up and shook her head, “I mean no.. no, I can’t.”

Emma’s face fell and Regina held up her hand and continued, “sorry, I mean I can’t tonight. My father had invited me to an event for one of his military friends. Your awful doctor, Hopper, will be there. Oh God, Hopper is your doctor. I’m your doctor.”

Emma quickly screwed the cap back on the cat nip bubbles and crossed over to Regina. “Hey, hey it’s okay. You’re not my doctor, we discussed this. It’s clear cut. You are not my doctor.”

“But they think I am,” Regina said as she paced the kitchen. “We.. we have to keep this quiet. At least for now.”

“I understand,” Emma nodded her head. “I had no intention of telling anyone anyway, my business is my own business.”

“We just need to ensure that I cut all professional ties with you and then we’ll leave it an amount of time and.. and..” Regina continued to pace.

“You’re adorable when you panic,” Emma commented, snatching a pear from a fruit bowl and taking a bite. “This event, is it Jon-Jon’s leaving party?”

Regina frowned. “Possibly, General John Johnson, I presume you would call him Jon-Jon?”

Emma nodded. “I’ve been invited too, I wasn’t going to go.”

Regina looked at Emma curiously. “Wasn’t going to?”

“I might make an appearance,” Emma bit her lip and looked at Regina’s mischievously.

Regina swallowed and looked nervously around the kitchen. “Emma.. I.. I need to know I can trust you. I know that you and I have agreed that there is nothing unethical going on between us but for those who are not privy to the contents of our sessions.. non-sessions.. it will look bad.”

Emma nodded and looked seriously at Regina. “Agreed, I understand the importance of the situation, really I do. I might joke about with you here and now but I promise you that not a word will pass my lips.”

Regina regarded the blonde for a few seconds before nodding her agreement. “Thank you.”

Emma took another bite from the pear and nodded her head towards the door. “I’m going to go and leave you to it. I’ll see you this evening and I promise to treat you with utter indifference.”

Regina laughed at Emma’s faked snooty head swoosh and followed her towards the door. “Thank you, again.”

Emma placed her hand on the door handle and looked at Regina seriously. “I have no idea what’s happening with us, but I really want to find out.”

Before Regina had a chance to reply Emma quickly opened the door and left the apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

Doctor Henry Mills sat nervously in the overstuffed tub chair in the hotel lobby, a tumbler of whisky untouched on the small table in front of him. He crossed and then uncrossed his legs as he waited expectantly while occasionally glancing towards the door. The nervous energy eventually caused him to jump to his feet and examine the modern art paintings that hung on the walls. He stared at them blankly, his understanding and acceptance of the art world was limited to say the least but he knew that looking at the art would make him appear more confident than he felt.

“Henry.”

Henry spun around and regarded Archie Hopper with a pensive smile and gestured to the table where he had been sat.

Archie sat at the table and waved away a waiter before she had the opportunity to approach the two men.

“You said this was important?” Archie asked as he leaned back comfortably in the chair and watched with interest as Henry hesitantly sat down and looked around the room.

“Regina called me this morning,” Henry began.

“Yes?” Archie pressed, not interested in having the facts of the matter drip-fed to him.

“She.. she says that she is dropping Major Swan’s case,” Henry said quickly before leaning forward and picking up the glass tumbler and holding it in his lap.

Archie raised his eyebrow in confusion. “You said she was the right person for this job.”

“I know, it’s very unlike Regina. And I tried to convince her otherwise but she was adamant. Nothing I could say swayed her.”

“What caused this sudden change of heart?” Archie asked pointedly.

“I don’t know, she just said she couldn’t get through to Emma and that she was refusing treatment.”

“I see,” Archie replied coldly. “And is she still attending the party this evening?”

“Yes, I’m picking her up at seven,” Henry sipped his drink.

“Why would she want to attend a military party if she is giving up the one and only military test case she has been given?” Archie wondered aloud. 

“Maybe she wishes to explain to you herself?” Henry offered.

“At a social event? Unlikely,” Archie said with a shake of the head. “There’s something else going on here, are you certain she doesn’t know anything?”

“Quite sure,” Henry replied with a strict nod.

Archie silently considered the matter for a few moments while Henry nervously sipped on his drink and waited for the results of Archie’s deliberations.

“I will deal with this, do not discuss it any further with your daughter,” Archie announced as he stood up. “And make sure she is in attendance this evening. I need to see her with my own eyes.”


	13. Chapter 13

Henry opened the door to the crowded bar and rolled his eyes as Regina stepped into the bar while making every effort to pointedly avoid looking at him.

“Darling, you can’t ignore me all night,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Daddy, I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Regina replied quietly but firmly. She looked around the room filled with people holding drinks and plucking voulevants from passing waiter’s trays, some of the attendees were in military uniform but most weren’t. Through the crowd came the familiar face of Doctor Archie Hopper and Regina took a deep breath to steel herself.

“How wonderful to see you both,” Archie smiled happily.

Henry’s cold expression immediately switched to the polite smile that Regina knew so well, her father seemed to be able to switch on his guest face within a second no matter what had transpired before. 

For Regina, however, the argument in the car on the way over still weighed heavily on her mind and she had absolutely no intention of acting unfazed simply to appease the strangers her father insisted were old friends. Henry only had to meet someone once and instantly they became an ‘old friend’ and worthy of being greeted with the faked guest face that belied any underlying tensions.

“And Regina, it’s delightful to see you again.”

Regina looked up at Archie as she realised she had missed the conversation between her father and Archie so far and was now being stared at by both men.

She smiled. “Thank you, my father was most insistent that I attend to meet his old friends.”

Archie let out a chuckle and winked. “Well, luckily we’re not all old.”

“Excuse me, I’ll go and get us some drinks, darling,” Henry said as he gently squeezed Regina’s upper arm before leaving her with Archie. 

Archie watched Henry walk towards the bar before turning back toward Regina and smiling. “So, how is work?”

Regina swallowed, she’d hoped to be able to avoid the conversation in person having already planned to tell Archie of her decision to stop treating Emma via an email in a couple of days. Throughout the afternoon she had planned exactly what she would type and even had a bullet pointed list of all the points she wanted to be clear to make. She wanted to be certain that she was absolutely clear-cut about her interactions with Emma as well as paving the way to potentially being referred other military cases in the future.

“I wouldn’t want to trouble you with work matters at a social event,” Regina replied with a polite smile.

“Oh, I find in our line of work we never really stop working,” Archie commented. “Is something on your mind?”

Regina looked across the room and noticed Emma standing with a group of men drinking a glass of beer and laughing at the conversation.

“Major Swan hasn’t been to a military social event since before the accident,” Archie said as he followed her line of vision. “You must be making great strides with her treatment.”

“Actually, no,” Regina admitted. If she had any chance of convincing people that she had not treated Emma at all then she needed to be plain with the truth now when the opportunity arose. 

“No?” Archie asked as he watched Regina’s expression contort as she struggled with what she wanted to say next.

“No, I.. I was going to tell you after the weekend,” Regina began. “The fact of the matter is that I wish to terminate my agreement, I cannot treat Major Swan. In fact the few times we have met she has not said a word to me about anything meaningful at all.”

“Oh,” Archie said in a way that made Regina feel that his surprise wasn’t at all heartfelt. “Well, that is unexpected. May I ask what brought this about?”

“The case wasn’t what I expected,” Regina replied. “With no information to go on and Major Swan determined to not cooperate it was becoming a pointless exercise in futility. I’m sure you understand, Doctor Hopper.”

“I see,” Archie commented with a frown that indicated he didn’t see at all. “But I thought this was your speciality? Getting through to those hard to reach patients? It hasn’t been long, I didn’t think you’d give up so soon.”

Regina gritted her teeth slightly and glanced over to her father who seemed to be taking his time choosing a drink for himself and questioning the bartender about every beverage on sale. 

“As I say.” Regina attempted to smile through her words. “It wasn’t what I expected.”

“I understand,” Archie said with a smile as he turned to regard Emma in the distance. “I have to admit I’m disappointed for Emma’s sake. I am at an impasse with her and I cannot see a way forward, other than her sister she has no friends to speak of.”

“So I understand.” Regina nodded her head and looked at the blonde again for a moment before returning her gaze to Archie. 

“She spoke about her home life?” Archie questioned.

Regina mentally kicked herself for the slip and shook her head. “No, I believe that information was one of the few pieces of uncensored information in her file.” Regina looked towards Emma again momentarily before tearing her eyes away to look at Archie again.

“No, I don’t believe that was in her file,” Archie remarked with a curious gaze at Regina before looking to Emma and back to the brunette. “This relationship between you and Emma, it must stay professional..”

“Have I given you reason to think otherwise!?” Regina replied harshly.

Archie held up his hand defensively but a slight smile graced his face regardless. “No, no, I just know how easy it is to sometimes become involved in a case.”

“Well that is not the case here, I can assure you,” Regina replied tersely.

“Of course,” Archie nodded his head in agreement and noticed Henry returning with drinks. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to mingle.”

As Archie left Henry raised his eyebrow at Regina as he handed her a glass of white wine.

“I can’t believe you told him!” Regina hissed to her father.

Henry looked like he was going to deny it for a moment before he eventually sighed. “He called me to confirm I was still coming this evening and.. well he asked and I didn’t want to lie to him.”

“Well, thank you, you just led me right into an ambush. You could have told me,” Regina looked at her father angrily.

“You didn’t exactly give me a chance with the silent treatment you bestowed upon me in the car,” Henry said with a shake of his head.

“Silent treatment?” Regina balked. “You lectured me for the whole twenty minute drive here, I didn’t get a chance to reply and by the time you had finished your clearly pre-prepared speech I didn’t wish to speak to you not that you would have listened anyway!”

“Regina,” Henry said it a low and warning tone as he looked around the room.

“Oh, sorry daddy, I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of these people who are supposedly your friends but whom you have conveniently neglected to mention every single time I mentioned wanting to get work with the military,” Regina turned on her heel and walked away from her father towards a nearby group of people.

* * * 

“So, who is she?”

Emma sighed as she turned to face Captain Michael August. “No one you need to know, August.”

“Then why have you been sneakily looking at her ever since she arrived?” August asked as he messily fed some peanuts into his mouth from his raised clenched fist.

Emma thought of denying it for a moment but soon recognised that it would be pointless. “She’s just a friend.”

“Friend, eh?” August asked with a raised eyebrow as he turned to look at Regina who was chatting to a group of people across the room and shamelessly looked the brunette up and down.

“Hey,” Emma whispered and elbowed him in the ribs. “Show a little respect.”

August held his side in pain and took a step away from Emma and chuckled a laugh. “Who is she?”

“Regina Mills,” Emma answered while looking around to check that she and August weren’t being overheard. “We’re.. friends. But it’s got to be top secret, August. I mean it.”

August blinked in surprise. “You like her,” he whispered as he looked over towards Regina with interest.

Emma looked around uncomfortably as she took a step closer to the man and whispered in reply, “it is very early days but I don’t want anything or anyone messing anything up before we have a chance to get to know each other.”

“Understood, Sir.” August nodded with a grin. “But why all the secrecy?”

Emma let out a sigh.

“Come on,” August shouldered Emma lightly. “Who is she?”

“She’s a doctor, a therapist,” Emma admitted. “Grant hired her for my case.”

“Oh so she’s your..”

“No,” Emma quickly cut him off. “She was never actually my doctor. But not everyone will see it like that. We need to keep it quiet because her career could be on the line.”

“Of course,” August nodded his head seriously. “Look, I know it’s none of my business but if she’s the reason that you’re up and about and.. you know.. smiling and shit.. then I’m really pleased for you both.”

“You’re right,” Emma nodded. “It isn’t any of your business.”

August rolled his eyes and shook his head as he chomped down some more peanuts. “Your problem is you don’t know when to be happy.”

“Excuse me?” Emma looked at him disbelievingly.

“I can see right through you, you like her but you’re already thinking about how to keep your distance from her. I can see it in your eyes,” August told her seriously.

“And just what the hell makes you think that?” Emma asked him in an angry hiss.

“Because I’ve known you for years and I know the thing you dread most is leaning on someone else,” August countered with a grin. He looked behind Emma and waved to someone in the distance. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have someone much more interesting to talk to.”

Emma turned around and saw a young woman biting her lip as she smiled towards August. 

“Talk? Is that what you’re calling it these days?” Emma asked as August walked away. He threw a laugh over his shoulder as he ignored Emma’s comment. Emma looked down into her beer and contemplated what August had just said. It was all true. She had no idea why but she felt a connection to Regina despite their short time knowing each other. At first the connection was sexual and nothing else but it had quickly grown into more than just a physical attraction and that confused and scared Emma greatly. She wasn’t used to relationships, as she told Regina she didn’t do relationships at all and while she claimed to hate commitment it was closer to the truth to say that she actually disliked the loss of self that came with relationships. She had seen too many people lose a part of their personality as they slowly merged into a couple, two people, neither like their previous selves. Emma didn’t know if she was able to give up a part of herself for someone else, she didn’t know if she could compromise like you were supposed to do in a relationship.

“Hi.”

Emma looked up in surprise as Regina approached.

“Hey,” Emma replied with a smile. “I thought you were ignoring me.”

“I was,” Regina replied. “But you’re the only person here who I can rely on to not solely talk about military life.”

“What about your father?” Emma asked, she had already noticed how Regina was actively avoiding the man and was curious about the fact.

“We’re not speaking,” Regina confessed and sipped her drink.

“Orange juice?” Emma questioned.

“Yes, I thought it best not to have too much to drink. Considering.”

Emma nodded her agreement. “Why are you not speaking to your father?”

“Who’s to say he isn’t speaking to me?” Regina asked.

“Because he looks at you forlornly across the room while you avoid him at all costs.”

“Been spying on me, Major Swan?”

“Absolutely, you’re the only person in here who I can rely on to not solely talk about military life,” Emma repeated.

“There’s my father, of course,” Regina replied with a grin.

“I’m not talking to him.” Emma smiled cheekily.

“Oh, really? Why not?” 

“I’m trying to seduce his daughter, it wouldn’t be appropriate.” Emma chuckled as she watched Regina look around in panic.

“Shh!”

“No one is listening, no one cares about us,” Emma assured her.

“I don’t know, Doctor Hopper made a comment earlier,” Regina said solemnly as she scanned the crowd for the elusive man.

“What kind of comment?” Emma asked with interest.

“He informed me that my relationship with you must stay professional,” Regina disclosed. “Told me how easy it was to become involved in a case.”

“That’s true, Doctor Mills,” Emma joked. “You must remain professional with your patients, be ethical at all times!”

Regina glared at Emma sourly. “That’s a sore subject, Major. I suggest you tread carefully.”

“Ah, there you both are.” Both women turned to see Archie Hopper walking towards them with a bright smile on his face.

“Hopper,” Emma greeted disinterestedly while Regina smiled politely.

“Major, I heard the sad news that your sessions with Doctor Mills were not fruitful?” Archie asked Emma directly much to Regina’s surprise.

Emma let out a sigh. “As you know, I have no interest in therapy. The times I met Doctor Mills were merely out of courtesy and to explain to her that I do not require therapy. Nothing more.”

“Seems like something you could have said over the phone,” Archie commented jokingly.

“I was at a loose end,” Emma commented. “Besides I couldn’t believe you had recommended someone so grossly underqualified, I had to see it for myself.”

Regina stared at Emma in hurt confusion but Emma carried on regardless, “bottom of the barrel I suppose, right?”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Regina said softly as she brushed passed Archie and placed her half empty glass on the bar and made her way towards the exit. Archie watched the brunette leave with interest and regarded Emma with a surprised face. Emma also watched Regina hurry to the exit, she quickly glanced at Archie before hurrying after the brunette.

* * * 

“Regina, wait!”

Regina paused as she finished crossing to the opposite side of the street and waited for Emma to catch up to her but refused to turn around as she bitterly asked, “what?”

Emma licked her lips nervously at Regina’s cold tone. “Look, I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t anything to do with you, I just hate that man and..”

Regina spun around. “You made it something to do with me when you insinuated that I am underqualified to another member of my own profession. How do you think that looks? It’s hard enough trying to be taken seriously in this line of work, especially when I work for my father’s practice. That kind of offhand comment could destroy my career! What were you thinking, Emma?”

Emma pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, Hopper is..”

“A jerk, yes, I know. But what you said was still out of order. And not the first time you’ve said it either. I’m getting a little tired of having to justify my career and my qualifications to you.” Regina sighed and let out a long breath and shook her head as she looked away.

Emma noticed the unshed tears in Regina’s eyes and let out a deep sigh, the sight made her heart beat a little faster and she realised that she was becoming attached to the brunette and it was scaring her.

“You didn’t want anyone guessing there was anything between us, it seemed like the easiest way to convince him, excuse me for being practical about this,” Emma replied with a slight shrug. As she said it she wondered if she was always destined to ruin anything that may be good for her, as the very words left her lips she knew she regretted them. 

“Practical or hurtful?” Regina whispered softly. 

Emma let out a sigh, her heart wanted to apologise but her brain told her not to and that she had already done enough apologising to Regina recently.

“Goodnight, Regina,” Emma finally said as she turned and walked back to the bar without another word.


	14. Chapter 14

Emma knocked on the door for the what she counted was the seventh time. Her forehead leant on the cool wooden door, her eyes closed as she knocked gently again.

“Please, Regina, I just want to apologise,” Emma mumbled softly.

After returning to the bar Emma had instantly felt overwhelming guilt at her behaviour towards Regina. The feeling wasn’t something new to Emma and was the main reason why she rarely socialised with other people anymore. The hurt look on Regina’s face had been etched into Emma’s memory and she replayed the conversation over and over again while silently asking herself why she did it. People had approached her to speak but they became unrecognisable blurs of faces and voices as Emma slowly walked out of the bar and found herself walking for an hour and a half across town to arrive at Regina’s apartment in the middle of the night. 

Finding the communal door unlocked she made a mental note to speak to Regina about security as she scaled the three flights of stairs and stared at the closed front door to Regina’s apartment and wondered what she was doing there. Before she had the chance to talk herself out of it she began knocking. Before long she leant on the door and continued her relentless campaign to get Regina to open the door, she wasn’t loud just persistent and she hoped that Regina’s pure heart would win out and she would be let in.

Suddenly she felt the door open and she stumbled forward at the surprise of it, once she balanced herself she found herself face to face with an angry looking Regina Mills wrapped up in a thick white woollen blanket. It was then that Emma felt the rush of cold air sweep through the apartment and regarded Regina with a confused frown. Before she had a chance to speak she saw Henry bounding around the corner with the anticipation of gaining his freedom through the open door. Regina grabbed Emma’s arm and pulled her into the apartment and closed and locked the door behind them.

Henry skidded to a halt and looked up at Emma with annoyance before letting out a small hiss and walking away from the two women.

“Will this take long?” Regina questioned with boredom. 

Emma shivered at Regina’s tone and the chill in the apartment, the thick blanket Regina wore over her nightgown suddenly made more sense.

“Did you forget to pay the heating bill?”

“Old building,” Regina answered with a glare.

Emma nodded. “Well, actually, yes this may take a while.. if you’re willing to listen?”

Regina regarded Emma for a moment and then started to walk away. “We’ll have to sit in my bedroom, it’s the only room with a portable heater and I’m freezing.”

Emma quashed any sarcastic comments she had intended to make and followed the woman across the open plan living space and into the hallway leading to the bedroom. Henry was ahead of them and was already curled up on the double bed and Regina quickly climbed back into bed and pulled the sheets up around her and looked towards her vanity unit where a small stool sat. Emma sat on the stool and realised it was still pretty cold in the bedroom despite the small heater that was producing some heat.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sure,” Regina said with disinterest.

“I was really stupid,” Emma admitted. “And that’s not easy for me to admit but I do recognise it. I don’t expect you to forgive me but I just wanted to give you an open and honest apology.”

Regina nodded her head as she brought her blanket-covered knees up to her chest and regarded Emma silently.

“I push people away,” Emma said softly as she looked down at the portable heater. The air in front of the heater caused the floorboards of the bedroom to look as if they were undulating. “Someone told me tonight that I don’t know when to be happy and it’s true.”

“But I’ve been a bitch to you and I owe you an apology and an explanation. It’s not much of an explanation but it’s all I’ve got and if it’s not enough then at least we both know I tried.” Emma tilted her head to one side as she stared at the heater. “Do you know anything about fuels?”

“I know the basics of a combustion engine,” Regina said with a light shrug. 

“The project we were working on is an alternative type of aviation fuel,” Emma said without looking up. “It burns at a different temperature range to normal fuels.”

“How so?” Regina asked as she sat a little straighter and strained to listen to Emma’s soft words.

“Standard aviation fuel, not that there is exactly such a thing, but let’s pretend that there is, has a flash point of one hundred degrees. Do you know what a flash point is?” Emma looked towards Regina questioningly, her face looked haunted in the dim light of Regina’s bedside lamp.

“Not precisely,” Regina admitted.

“It’s the lowest temperature that the substance can vaporise to form an ignitable mixture in the air. So, at one hundred degrees aviation fuel is ready to be ignited. Aviation fuel is amazing stuff, its auto ignition temperature is very high so the chances of spontaneous combustion is limited. Its freezing point is low so the likelihood that it will become useless during a cold snap is unlikely. But the flash point, the point at when it is ready to be ignited, is a problem. Heating large amounts of fuel to above one hundred degrees so that it can be ready to be ignited is costly.”

Regina nodded her understanding and Emma looked away and stared at the barely visible heat from the heater again.

“After a lot of time and work we developed a new fuel, its flash point was ninety seven degrees, it was a revelation. But it was prone to auto ignition, despite the science pointing to it being impossible. Aviation fuel can auto ignite at four hundred and ten degrees, this fuel should have been around the three hundred and seventy degree mark. But in two separate instances a small test sample ignited at room temperature.”

Emma stood up and pulled the vanity unit stool a little closer to the heater unit and rubbed her hands together in front of it.

“So the military want you to go back to work on this new fuel?” Regina asked.

“Yes, it’s all about money,” Emma let out a sad sigh.

“I’m sorry for being ignorant but how can a three degree lower, flash point was it?” Emma nodded. “How can a three degree lower flash point be that important?”

“Economies of scale,” Emma replied. “You know how airplanes have those little tips on the ends of the wings these days?”

Regina nodded, “I’ve seen them yes.”

“They are to improve fuel efficiency, they create two mini vortices behind them and..” Emma paused as she realised how impassioned she was becoming in explaining the science. She took a deep breath and continued, “a large airline could save two hundred million dollars each year by having their fleet fitted with winglets. The same goes with fuel, spending less on heating the fuel, times all those journeys, across an entire fleet, it could be worth millions if not billions.”

“But it’s dangerous?”

“Unpredictable,” Emma corrected carefully. “It.. it does things it really shouldn’t be able to do. Like it has a mind of its own, and don’t look at me like that I’m not crazy..”

“I don’t use that word,” Regina replied firmly. 

“Okay,” Emma nodded in understanding. “What I mean is.. I don’t think it talks to me or anything.. but I can’t explain what it does.”

“Did you know about the instability before the accident?” Regina asked carefully.

“Yes,” Emma looked towards Regina, her already pale face becoming more drained with every second that passed. “I’d taken my concerns to General Grant and he gave me permission to close down the project. The world of alternative fuel is constantly seeking alternatives to what we currently use and they almost always end up as dead ends. But this one was the closest we had ever seen, it hurt to mothball the project. So when Grant told me to start up tests again and gave me more resource and more personnel.. I..”

Emma drifted off and started to shake at the grief that overtook her at the thought of what those decisions had meant. Regina picked Henry up and put him on the other side of the bed and lifted up the corner of her blankets and gestured for Emma to join her sitting on the bed.

“Come here,” Regina said softly. “It’s freezing out there, that heater is useless.”

Emma regarded Regina for a moment before shucking her shoes off of her feet and crossing the room and climbing into the large bed and sitting her back against the headboard and pulling the warm blankets over her legs. Regina sat beside her but not too close as she waited for Emma to continue.

“Tests started again. We went over everything, every damn detail. But we couldn’t find what a reason for what happened, for why it was showing signs of that initial instability. We pushed every parameter and nothing. So we began to think there was some faulty equipment, or the batch was wrong or.. I don’t know. We were blinded by the possibilities. We ignored the data and continued on. A year later there was another accident.”

Emma drifted off and stared into the distance.

“Was anyone hurt?” Regina asked softly.

“No,” Emma whispered. “But it was close. Too close. I told Grant I was shutting it down. He agreed. One week later he brought me into a meeting of the top brass, they asked what I would need to make it work. I said it couldn’t. They pushed and pushed, there were mild threats to my career. I wouldn’t back down so they said they would take me off of the project. My project!” 

Emma let out an angry sigh. “They were going to bring this hot shot from China in, I couldn’t let them do it. My pride wouldn’t let me. Well, you know what they say about pride. Three weeks later the accident happened. Three people died. But it should have been me.”

“You felt responsible for them.”

“I was responsible for them,” Emma replied coolly. “I was their commanding officer, the head science officer for my division, it was my job to keep them safe.”

Regina nodded her understanding but remained silent.

After a while Emma turned her head towards Regina. “Isn’t this were you say something profound?”

“I’m not your doctor,” Regina answered honestly. “But I’ll admit I’m having difficulty knowing where to draw the line.”

“I know, I messed this up,” Emma said as she mimicked Regina’s position and pulled her knees to her chest.

“No, you didn’t,” Regina contradicted. “It’s an awkward situation, one with no ground rules. Am I your friend or your doctor? A blend of the two? Is that fair on either of us? But, if we’re honest, I think you already know what I would say if this were to be a professional session.”

“Do I?” Emma asked grumpily.

“Yes, I think you do,” Regina replied. “Go on, what would you expect me to say?”

Emma paused for a moment before resting her chin on her knees. “That it’s not my fault, that the guilt I feel is natural, that I couldn’t have predicted the accident and that I was just caught in an unfortunately series of events. That talking about it would relieve my guilt and pain. That I’m making progress by opening up to you.”

Regina smirked. “See? You’re right, you don’t need therapy. I have a sneaking suspicion that you could give therapy if you felt that way inclined.”

Emma snorted a laugh.

“What happened after the accident?” Regina asked. “I still don’t understand why they won’t discharge you?”

“Neither do I,” Emma confessed. “After the accident.. I.. I was a mess. I couldn’t get myself together and they sent me from therapist to therapist. Hopper was brought in and he threw therapy after therapy, doctor after doctor my way. The more they tried to fix me and get me back in there the angrier I became, the more defiant I became.”

“Why don’t they just get the expert from China to take over the project?” Regina asked.

Emma chuckled. “He didn’t exist.”

“What?” Regina frowned.

“They made him up, they knew I wouldn’t want someone else taking credit for my work so they played on my fears. I think I am their only hope.”

“Bastards,” Regina mumbled softly.

Emma chuckled again and they sat in comfortable silence for a while before she spoke again. “I’m so sorry about how I acted in front of Hopper. I will fix that, I promise.”

“I was being overly sensitive,” Regina admitted. “I was still feeling a bit hungover from last night.”

“Well, then I’m also sorry for plying with you shots,” Emma said with a lopsided grin.

“You made up for that by fixing my car,” Regina replied with a smile.

“And carrying that beast up the stairs.” Emma pointed at Henry who was giving her an evil glare and done so ever since she took his place on the bed.

Regina looked at Henry and laughed, it was a beautiful and rich laugh that somehow hit Emma in the chest with strong emotions. “I can’t stop thinking about you,” Emma suddenly confessed.

Regina spun her head to look at Emma in surprise.

“I don’t know what it means, I’ve never felt like this about someone. I never thought it could happen and certainly not so quickly. Suddenly you’re constantly on my mind.”

“I.. I feel the same,” Regina stammered. “I feel connected to you somehow but I know that.. I feel.. I..”

As Regina struggled with her sentence Emma nodded her head in understanding. “That it’s too fast but too slow all at once? Like it makes no sense like we shouldn’t work but complete faith that we will? Or have I just said exactly the wrong thing that will send you running for the hills?”

Regina smiled brightly. “Not at all.”

Regina brought her hand up to softly cup Emma’s face and ran her thumb over the dried tear tracks of the few tears that had managed to escape the blonde’s emotional prison. Regina lent forward and softly captured Emma’s lips, the memory of their frantic kisses the night before at the back of her mind as she approached deliberately slowly to savour each moment. Emma returned the kiss with equal softness as she brought her hand up to cover Regina’s that still gently cupped her face. The kiss ended and another immediately took its place and so went on the pattern until Regina felt Emma’s face tense under her fingers and opened her eyes to see frightened green eyes looking back at her.

She pulled back and swallowed as she looked at the blonde who seemed to be gradually becoming more and more anxious.

“Emma, it’s okay, there are no expectations here..” Regina attempted to calm the blonde.

“I.. just need some space..” Emma said as she quickly slid out of the bed and grabbed her shoes and walked around the bed and looked apologetically at Regina. “I’m sorry.”

Regina regarded the blonde with a sad but understanding look as she watched Emma quickly leave the bedroom and close the door behind her, clearly not wanting to be followed. Regina petted Henry’s head and whispered to cat, “she’ll be back, she’s just got to have some time to adjust to everything.”

Henry let out a loud purr and jumped over Regina’s body to reclaim his place where Emma had been sitting.

* * *

Emma spent the best part of an hour walking in the cold, dark night. She had no plans on where she was going or what she was doing she just knew that she needed to be in motion. Sitting still wasn’t going to cut it while her brain was so full of confusing questions and conflicting emotions. Emma had long ago diagnosed herself with a case of post-traumatic stress and knew that her behaviours could be erratic but that didn’t make it any easier when it happened.

When she had gone to see Regina that evening she had not had any intention of confiding in the woman, about the accident or about her feelings. But in the cosy and yet cold room it had seemed so easy to finally let the words that had been caged within her chest to be free. Somehow the situation had been perfect and before she even knew what she was doing she was spilling everything, relieved to finally have told someone the details and her true feelings about the accident.

Regina hadn’t immediately swung into any professional mode and Emma was grateful for that. All she required was someone to listen, she knew what was wrong with her and she knew how to combat it and so advice and guidance was very last thing she wanted. 

Emma let a smile cross her face at the thought of the kiss and the declaration of whatever indescribable connection they clearly both felt. The smile vanished at the thought of leaving Regina again and needing to escape the situation. Emma had always faced her problems head on but since the accident she had turned into a runner, or a hider at the least. But the non-judgemental understanding in Regina’s expression as she had left the brunette’s bedroom caused Emma to smile again.

Emma stopped walking and stared up at the pale half-moon that hung in the sky as she wondered, not for the first time that evening, what she was doing walking around the dark and cold streets when she could be with Regina. Fear, she reasoned. She knew fear of having just confessed so much to the brunette and the potential of being rejected was enough to break her in two. But the uncertainty was eating at her just as much, not knowing if the fear was misplaced was going to end up having the very same effect on her.

Emma smiled as she bit her lip and shook her head. She wondered when she had become such an emotional mess and turned to make her way back to Regina’s apartment for yet another heartfelt apology. 

* * *

As Emma hopped up the stairs towards the communal door to Regina’s apartment building she saw the bush beside the door move and shake suddenly and she paused and adopted a defensive posture as she narrowed her eyes and regarded the bush. A low wheezing noise could be heard and she approached the bush carefully, crouching down as she got closer. Two green eyes looked back at her and Emma lowered herself to the floor to get a better look.

“Henry?” Emma questioned in quiet shock. “What are you doing out here? Did I let you out?”

Emma reached into the bush and managed to scoop Henry up and into her arms but only because the large ball of fluff seemed to be having some kind of panic attack. Emma remembered Regina’s words about the outside world being too much for the small and heart sick creature.

“Hey, hey,” she soothed. “It’s all good, beast, don’t worry. Let’s get you inside.”

Henry pushed his way into Emma’s black leather jacket to hide his face and she opened the communal door and walked towards the stairs.

“You know this is the second time I’m carrying your fat ass up these stairs,” she whispered to him, thankful that the shaking seemed to have subsided.

Emma watched the nervous cat with a frown and began to wonder how the hell he had managed to escape. If he’d gotten out of the front door to the apartment then she surely would have seen him on the stairs or when he got out of the second door. It didn’t make any sense. As Emma approached the top floor and walked down the corridor towards Regina’s apartment it suddenly started to make more sense. 

The front door was open, the door frame broken and the door damaged from what looked like a foot print to the middle of it. Emma gasped as she ran towards the door and listened for any sounds inside the apartment. She stealthily stepped in and lowered Henry to the floor and he scuttled into the apartment towards some unknown hiding place. She noticed a small spot of still wet blood on the floor of the hallway and her heart began to beat almost out of her chest and she rushed through the apartment for any sign of Regina. The living space was empty and some furniture had been moved as if a struggle had taken place in the living area. The bathroom was also empty and Emma skidded to a halt as she walked into the bedroom to see no sign of Regina, the bedding was on the floor by the bed and there were further signs of a struggle. Emma took a shaky step into the room as she noticed a printed note lay on the middle of the bed.

_Major Swan, don’t call anyone, don’t tell anyone. Go home and await further instructions._


	15. Chapter 15

Emma took a couple of shaky steps back away from the bed and covered her mouth with her hand to capture the anguished cry that was currently trapped in her chest and threatening to burst from her lips. She stopped breathing as her eyes darted around the room, taking in every single detail and attempting to logically think of next steps. But her logic was being dampened by the fear, dread and guilt that was currently compromising her thought process. 

“Oh my God,” she muttered shakily, the sound muffled by her hand. “Oh my God, think Emma, think.”

Emma looked at the note again and lowered her hand from her mouth as she took a step closer to the bed to get a better look at it. Going home was the last thing she wanted to do, she wanted to stay in Regina’s apartment and remove any sign of what had happened, pretend that it was all a terrible dream. She wanted to repair the front door, fix the heating, make the bed, correct the furniture and feed the cat and put everything back to normal. She looked around her feet for any sign of Henry and when she couldn’t see him she walked from the bedroom and into the living room and looked around the furniture for him.

After a while she realised she had no idea where Henry’s safe place would be and decided that as fat as he was he was still able to hide pretty well. As her frustration mounted she was shocked to realise that tears were streaming down her face and suddenly it seemed very important to Emma to find Henry and make sure he was safe, logically she knew she was simply transferring her feelings of protection from Regina to Henry. She quickly wiped at her eyes and took a few deep and calming breaths to get herself back together and to try to think rationally about what to do. 

As silence fell over the apartment Emma realised that she could hear heavy breathing and she held her breath for a moment as she stood completely still and listened carefully to the noise and where it was coming from. She was certain the apartment was empty but she began to consider that she didn’t know the apartment well and there were ample hiding places for someone to lay in wait. She tilted her head to one side and let out a sigh when she saw Henry up high on top of the kitchen cupboards and realised that the heavy breathing was coming from him, clearly still panic-stricken following the break in. 

“Come on, Henry,” Emma whispered softly as she walked towards the kitchen and looked up at the terrified cat. “How the hell did you get up there?”

She looked around the kitchen for a clue as to how the large and usually lumbering cat had managed to perch himself so high up off the ground and in such a small space.

“Fuck!” She shouted as she put her head in her hands and paced the kitchen. “Fuck! Fuck! This is my fault, fuck!”

Tears began to fall down her cheeks again and Emma leant against the refrigerator and slowly slid down to the floor. For a long time she cried loudly as she sat slumped against the refrigerator and let her guilt freely wash over her. She cursed herself for walking away, for causing Regina pain, for even being in Regina’s life at all. There was no doubt that this was all her fault, someone had been watching them and had seen Emma’s feelings for Regina before she’d even fully understood them for herself and was now using them against her. 

“How does this even happen?” She whispered to herself as she looked up at the hallway and the broken doorframe. She sniffed and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her arm and regarded the door again with a frown. The break in was messy, a clear footprint marked the front door.

“This.. this isn’t military.” She stood up and looked around the room in confusion. “This isn’t military at all.”

The broken in door, the disturbance, the note. None of it made any sense, it was unlike any military operation Emma had ever seen or heard of. Emma didn’t know whether to be relived or further concerned by the apparent lack of military involvement. The one thing she did know was that she needed to get herself together and get back home and wait for further instructions. 

Emma opened the hallway cupboard and picked up the box with Henry’s toys and found his cat carrier and put both in the kitchen, looking up to see Henry looking down at her with curiosity in his eyes she tried to give him a comforting smile and nearly succeeded. Next she searched through the lower kitchen cupboards and quickly came across a whole cupboard dedicated to cat bowls, food, treats, toys and medication. As Emma began to scoop it all out of the cupboard and onto the floor she head an large bang behind her and spun around to see Henry walking towards her having jumped down from the great height.

“Jesus, you’re going to break both of your legs doing that, beast,” Emma told him and handed him a couple of treats in order to gain his trust while she opened the cat carrier and looked for a bag to put all of his belongings in. She found a cotton tote bag in the hallway cupboard and started to fill it with medication and his special food while rolling her eyes at the extraordinary treatment the cat received. When she turned around to regard Henry again she was surprised to see he had already walked into the open cat carrier and was comfortably sitting inside it and watching her, still breathing heavily.

“You want to get out of here?” Emma asked as she clipped the cat carrier closed and picked up the carrier and the tote bag and looked around the apartment one last time before hurrying out of the door.

* * * 

“Emma, it’s two in the morning!” Mary’s voice sounded from the hallway as soon as Emma closed the front door to the apartment. “You could have call and let me know you were staying out so late or..”

Mary appeared from the hallway and suddenly stopped and looked at her sister who was stood in by the front door with a cat carrier and clearly distressed.

“What’s happened? What have you done?” Mary asked with trepidation as she looked at her sister’s dishevelled state. “Why do you have a cat? Is that.. is that Regina’s cat?”

“We’re looking after it for.. a while,” Emma said as she lowered the cat carrier to the floor and started to unpack Henry’s things onto the kitchen counter.

“You went out to a leaving party,” Mary said as she bent down and looked into the cat carrier at Henry. “And you come back in the middle of the night with someone’s cat. You hate cats.”

“Have there been any calls for me?” Emma asked.

“Any what?” 

“Calls!” Emma shouted as she spun around. “Calls, has anyone called for me? You know, the telephone!”

“Emma,” Mary whispered softly. “What’s going on?”

The phone on the counter rung and both women stared at it as the shrill noise sounded loudly in the quiet apartment. When Mary made a move to answer it, Emma woke out of her stupor and quickly passed her sister and grabbed the telephone out of the cradle.

“Major Swan,” she answered in a tone she hoped didn’t betray her nerves.

“Major,” a familiar male voice spoke. “It’s Doctor Hopper, Doctor Mills is safe and well and..”

“You bastard!” Emma screamed down the phone. “You fucking bastard, I will kill you! I am going to find you and I am going to kill you!”

“Now, now, Major,” Archie said calmly and with a hint of humour. “If you just remained calm for a few moments I will even tell you my exact location. Now, I need you to come alone because my associates and I would like to talk to you and Doctor Mills and we don’t want there to be any misunderstandings, do we?”

“Mis.. I.. what the fuck? What the hell are you playing at?” Emma spat down the phone as she paced the room like a caged animal. “Who do you work for?”

“Major Swan, please calm yourself and don’t do anything rash. Who I work for can all be explained when you get here. As I said Doctor Mills is safe and well but I really don’t want to have to keep her here any longer than necessary and the length of her stay all depends upon you..”

“I want to see her!” Emma demanded.

“And see her you shall, I am about to give you an address and as long as you come alone then I can assure you that you will be free to see her safe and well the very moment you arrive.”

Emma panted as her brain attempted to catch up with events and analyse what was happening and what course of action she should take.

“Okay, where are you?” Emma asked quickly.

“Downtown, do you know the warehouses by the abandoned swimming pool?”

“On Maddison? Yeah, I know them..” Emma nodded quickly as she avoided Mary’s inquisitive and terrified looks.

“You’ll see a narrow street opposite the pool building, at the end of that street is an old warehouse which used to be a printing press. There’s a fire escape, come up to the third floor and knock on the door, we’ll be here.”

The line disconnected and Emma lowered the phone and hung up the call.

“Emma? Emma!” Mary walked in front of the blonde and held her arms. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“I.. I can’t say..” Emma stuttered, the last thing she wanted was to put her sister in danger too. “Look, you have to trust me, you can’t tell anyone anything.”

“I don’t know anything!” Mary cried.

“Well, then you’re not that far behind me,” Emma replied angrily. She took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to take it out on you. Look, something’s happened but I can’t tell you, not yet. I need to figure out what is happening and figure out a plan.”

Mary looked at Emma and slowly nodded her head. “I don’t like this but I trust you.. if you can’t say then you can’t say. But please, I want to help, there must be something I can do? What can I do?”

Emma looked at Mary thoughtfully for a few seconds then let out a deep breath. “Look after the cat and let me borrow your car?”

Mary picked up a set of keys with a Volkswagen logo keyring attached to them and handed them to Emma. “Please be safe.”

“I will.” Emma nodded her promise.


	16. Chapter 16

The street was more of a damp alleyway and Emma slowly drove Mary’s bright yellow VW Bug along the cobblestones as she looked for the warehouse that Hopper had described on the phone. To her displeasure it was at the end of the alleyway where it narrowed substantially and there was no room to turn the Bug around, any notion of a quick getaway was quickly diminishing. She got out of the car and slammed the heavy door closed, her instincts had initially been to approach with stealth but her anger and her fear for Regina’s well-being meant that was also not going to happen. She eyed the fire escape and let out a sigh as she began to climb the metal staircase towards the top where she could see a closed metal door.

During the drive over she had attempted to calm her thoughts and think about exactly what she was doing. Ideas of calling the police or some friends from the base came and went quickly as she decided the risk to Regina was too great to take. She had briefly considered that she may be walking into a trap and even more briefly let the disturbing thought that she didn’t even know if Regina was still alive enter her brain. She pushed all thoughts from her mind and decided to deal with the situation as it unfolded, it was all she could do considering the events and how unbalanced the distribution of power was.

As she held onto the cold metal handrail she realised her hand was shaking and she firmly grabbed the handrail to try to get herself under control as she picked up the pace and swiftly climbed to the top of the fire escape. In front of the door she took a deep breath and hammered her fist loudly onto the metal and waited nervously. As sounds of the door unlocking became clear she wondered if Hopper himself would be on the other side of the door and in the same second wondered if she would punch him if he were.

The door opened and she sucked in a nervous breath as she took a defensive stance but there was no one there, whoever had opened the door opted to stay hidden behind it. She took a small step forward and looked into the room, it was a spacious wooden-floored room that stretched on for many meters in all directions. In the middle of the room Regina sat bound to a wooden chair with a black fabric bag over her head. She still wore her grey silk pyjamas that Emma had caught a glimpse of earlier that evening and Emma found herself quickly crossing the room towards Regina without a care if anyone else was in the room.

The sound of the fire door slamming closed behind her didn’t stop her from her mission and in a matter of seconds she was kneeling beside Regina.

“Regina, it’s me, you’re going to be okay,” Emma whispered as she quickly examined the woman for any signs of injury. 

Regina’s legs were bound to the front legs of the chair and her hands were bound behind the back of the chair. The brunette’s head whipped around violently but she was silent and Emma quickly ripped the fabric bag from her head. 

“Major Swan, as you can see, Doctor Mills is fine.”

Emma spun around to see Hopper approaching her with two armed men beside him. She quickly turned back to Regina and loosened the knotted tea towel she recognised from Regina’s kitchen that served as a gag.

“Emma, what’s happening?” Regina whispered hoarsely as soon as the gag was removed.

Emma jumped to her feet and marched towards Hopper without even a second glance at the armed men. “What the fuck is going on here?”

Hopper held up his hand to stop her approach and she belatedly noticed the guns that were pointed not at her but towards Regina. She stared at Archie in a shocked question at the action.

“Well, we both know you don’t care about yourself, Major.” Hopper walked around Emma and looked from her to Regina. “I was your doctor long enough to see that you have no care for your own wellbeing. But I was most interested to see your interaction with Doctor Mills here.”

“If you touch her,” Emma began.

Hopper cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Oh, please, let’s leave the threats. This doesn’t have to be nastier than it already is. If we all remain calm and do our bit then everyone will be going home tonight safe and well.”

“Why am I here?” Regina suddenly spoke, her voice determined as she glared at Hopper.

“I would have thought that was obvious,” Hopper said as he walked behind Regina and started to untie her wrists. “Leverage.”

“Leverage over me?” Emma questioned as she watched Regina delicately move her arms forward and rotate her shoulders to return blood circulation to her arms.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” Hopper removed his glasses and meticulously polished a lens. “I’m a retired military doctor and a very rich one at that. I made my money investing wisely, mainly in products that the army developed and sold to private industry. One day I was made an offer I could not refuse and I walked away from the service with more money than I could ever dream of.”

“Congratulations,” Emma bit out sarcastically.

Hopper ignored her as he put his glasses back on. “Since then I have become more of an adviser, seeking out new products and assisting their purchase into the private sector.”

“You want this new fuel,” Regina guessed. 

“Oh, so she told you about the project?” Hopper asked Regina with a raised eyebrow before facing Emma. “Pillow talk, Major? Tsk tsk.”

Emma lurched towards Hopper only to find herself held back by one of the armed men while the other pointed his gun towards Regina. Emma relaxed her stance and nodded her understanding and her captor let her go.

“Yes, we want the fuel,” Hopper confessed. “The problem is that we were promised the fuel by your superiors and we made contractually binding deals with other parties based upon our assumed acquisition of the fuel.”

“Sounds like a dumb thing to do to me,” Emma spat out. Regina looked over to Emma and slightly shook her head in an attempt to calm the blonde.

“Yes, it was,” Hopper agreed. “Not my decision. But unfortunately my mess to clean up.”

“If you’re so rich then why not walk away? The deal’s gone south, cut your losses,” Emma said.

“Business doesn’t work like that, Major. We need that fuel.”

“It’s not viable.” Emma shook her head.

“We need that fuel,” Hopper repeated.

“Then fucking take it!” Emma shouted. “You take a woman from her apartment in the middle of the night, just go ahead and take the fucking fuel.”

Hopper laughed at Emma’s fury. “It’s not quite that simple. You see, Doctor Mills here isn’t military property. We aren’t selling her to contacts all over the world as a military-created and tested product.”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Regina said. “What do you need Emma to do?”

“I’m glad you ask,” Hopper answered Regina with a grateful smile. “Word has got out about the Major’s meltdown, the product not being viable. Our investors are shaken and money is being lost. We need to recover the situation quickly.”

“Get to the point.” Emma gritted her teeth. 

Hopper turned to Regina. “She needs to be medically cleared to get back onto the base.”

Regina snorted a laugh. “Then do it yourself, you’re her doctor.”

“If I could do that I would have done it by now,” Hopper rolled his eyes. “I need someone else to sign her mentally fit to return to duty.”

“But she’s not,” Regina argued.

“I’m right here,” Emma pointed out.

“Of course she’s not. She’s not fit to go back. The fuel isn’t going to do what it says on the tin. None of this is exactly legal and above board, Regina,” Hopper said. “General Grant has had his doubts about me for a while. I have burnt my bridges by fighting for Emma’s reinstatement too hard, her constant refusal to return to the base has diminished any authority I had.”

“Good,” Emma muttered.

“Emma!” Regina stared at her pointedly.

Emma looked at Regina, still partially tied to a chair and in her pyjamas in a warehouse in the middle of the night under armed guard. She closed her mouth and nodded to Regina.

“The fuel is dangerous,” Regina pointed out. “It’s unstable.”

“I know,” Hopper replied. “She’ll fix it.”

Emma let out a bitter laugh and turned her back on the conversation and walked away.

“And if she can’t?” Regina asked.

“Well, I’d threaten your life but I doubt that is the kind of incentive that would help a scientist towards a meaningful breakthrough,” Hopper commented wryly. “So, put it this way, you get her back onto the base. Then she has three weeks to either fix it or forge enough test results to make it look like she has fixed it.”

Emma spun around. “What?”

“You heard me,” Hopper said darkly. “One way or another you have three weeks and then the product is signed off.”

“You can’t do that, people will die, it’s highly unstable,” Emma said.

“Of course and of course we’ll tell people about that, after the deal has been signed. It will be the end of your career, Major but we’ll keep causalities to a minimum. It will all depend on how quickly our earlier customers can get the fuel into their supply system.”

“Is lining your pockets really worth people’s lives?” Emma asked him.

“People I don’t know? Yes. Of course. But it’s not just about the money, it’s the fact that if this deal doesn’t happen then my associates will be very very unhappy.”

“You’re saving your own skin.” Regina sighed.

“Yes, I’m saving my life and that of my family. Just like Major Swan did when she came here with no backup and no weapon.”

Regina looked towards Emma and they shared a look before Regina tore her eyes away and looked back to Hopper. “And, dare I ask what will happen if we warn anyone?”

Hopper looked at Regina and his face contorted into a sinister grin. 

“How do you know my father?” Regina suddenly asked, much to Hopper’s surprise.

“He is up to his neck in debt,” Hopper answered honestly.

“Daddy? How?” 

“I suggest you ask him.”

“I’m asking you,” Regina pushed.

Hopper looked at Regina with a grin. “Your mother left a lot of debts when she died, a lot of debts. Your father started to invest in order to pay off the debts and to keep it a secret from you, he got in over his head and he is about to lose everything. When I came to him for help he was more than happy to oblige.”

“He.. he knows?” Regina asked, her expression haunted.

“Look, I get what you want me to do and I agree. You clearly have me over a barrel so there’s no point in going around and around while you throw out more threats. I get it. Now, are we free to go?” Emma asked bluntly.

Hopper looked from Emma to Regina and slowly nodded his head. Emma rushed towards Regina and worked to untie the ropes on her ankles. 

“No games, Major. I’d hate anything to happen to Doctor Mills, or your sister for that matter.”

“I get it,” Emma said through gritted teeth as she pulled the ropes away from Regina’s feet and stood up. She held her hand out for Regina to use for support and helped the brunette to her feet. 

“I look forward to your miraculous recovery and return to work.” Hopper grinned as Emma guided Regina towards the exit.

Emma opened the door and hurried Regina onto the fire escape and closed the door behind them.

“Let’s go,” Emma said.

“What are you going to do?” Regina asked as she tentatively walked down the metal staircase in bare feet.

“Get you somewhere safe,” Emma said as she walked slowly behind Regina, occasionally looking over her shoulder to check they weren’t being followed.

“I mean about the fuel.”

“I don’t care about that right now.”

“I’m okay,” Regina paused and turned to look up at Emma. She tried to give Emma an encouraging smile but the cold wind and her inappropriate outfit caused her to shiver instead.

Emma shrugged out of her black leather jacket and wrapped it around Regina’s shoulders. “Let’s keep moving.”

Regina turned and continued to slowly walk down the stairs, wincing a little as the metal embedded into her feet.

“I’m so sorry, Regina.”

“It’s not your fault, Emma.”

“Of course it is, they saw us together and then..”

Regina laughed out loud. “Did you not hear the part where he said my father is involved? If it wasn’t this then they would have just pressured my father instead. This was always going to happen.”

“Putting pressure on your father is preferable to kidnapping you from your apartment in the middle of the night,” Emma pointed out.

“I’m okay,” Regina repeated.

“Did they hurt you?” Emma asked, wishing she could see Regina’s face but the dimly lit alleyway and the single-file staircase meant she could only just see the outline of Regina descending the stairs in front of her.

“No,” Regina said after a moment’s deliberation. “I.. I was shaken up but they didn’t hurt me.”

“There was blood.. in your hallway.”

Regina let out a small chuckle. “I scratched one of their faces.”

Emma smiled with pride. “Good.”

“Oh my God,” Regina said as they approached the bottom of the final flight of stairs.

“What?”

“You’ve seriously given me grief for my Mini when you drive a Bug?” Regina turned to look at Emma.

“It’s my sister’s,” Emma replied with a shrug.

“I think I like your sister,” Regina said.

“I hope you do, I really hope you do,” Emma said distractedly as she weaved her way around Regina and unlocked and opened the passenger door. “I’m going to have to carry you, you’re not walking on this ground with no shoes on.”

Regina looked like she was about to argue but before she had a chance Emma pulled her down from the last few steps of the fire escape and she fell into Emma’s open arms. Regina’s arms went around Emma’s neck as Emma easily carried Regina’s light frame towards the open door of the Bug and angled her into the passenger seat.

“W-why do you really hope I like your sister?” Regina asked in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Because you’re living with us until this is over,” Emma said and quickly closed the passenger door to stop any disagreements that might come from the doctor.


	17. Chapter 17

“What did you say?” Regina asked as Emma got into the driver’s seat of the yellow Bug.

“You’re staying with us,” Emma said simply as she pulled her seatbelt across her body and clicked it into place. She looked at Regina who was staring at her blankly and gestured towards the passenger seatbelt. “Belt.”

“I’m not staying with you,” Regina argued.

“You are. Belt.”

“What makes you think I’m going to agree to going from one prison to another?” Regina asked, angry at Emma’s blasé attitude. 

“I think calling my sister’s apartment a prison is a little strong.” Emma started the engine.

“I’m in my pyjamas and you’re threatening to take me somewhere other than my home,” Regina pointed out.

“Belt.” Emma placed her arm behind Regina’s chair as she turned to look through the rear window. When she noticed that Regina was not moving to put her seatbelt on she let out a sigh. “Please, put on your seatbelt? We can discuss this when we’re a little further away from the men with the guns. Okay?”

Regina considered the request for a moment before letting out her own sigh and clipping her seatbelt into place. 

“This is ridiculous.”

Emma started to slowly reverse out of the narrow alleyway. “I’m trying to concentrate here.”

“I can take care of myself,” Regina asserted. 

“Yep, totally agree.” Emma minutely adjusted the steering wheel as she navigated the car slowly backwards. “Except when armed men burst into your apartment in the middle of the night and kidnap you. Then, like most other people, you need to accept that you need a little assistance.”

“I’m not..” Regina began.

Emma slammed the brakes on and Regina spun her head to look at the blonde who was looking angrily at her. They were centimetres away from each other as Emma pursed her lips and attempted to reign in her obvious anger.

“Look, it’s my fault they did this to you, okay? Mine.” Emma shook her head and broke eye contact with Regina as she attempted to figure out what she wanted to say. “I.. we.. I don’t know how to get out of this.. okay? I really don’t. All I do know is that when I saw your apartment my blood ran cold, I felt like someone had sucked all the breath out of my lungs and I knew that whatever had happened to you was completely my fault.”

“You went to my apartment?” Regina questioned.

Emma nodded her head slowly, realising how out of the loop Regina was. “I’m sorry I ran out like I did, even more so now. I was stupid, I panicked and I just had to get out of there. When I got back.. well, you were gone.”

Regina nodded her understanding and swallowed.

“And now,” Emma continued and let out a deep breath. “Now, a whole world of shit has come down on top of me and I don’t know what to do. But I do know one thing, I don’t ever want to go through that panic again, I don’t want to worry about your safety, worry if you’re even alive.. because of.. because of me.”

Tears started to slowly track down Emma’s face but Regina could see that the stubborn woman was doing everything she could to keep herself together. 

“So, you’re staying with us. Where I know you’ll be safe, where I have a gun and I can.. I can sort everything out. Somehow.”

“Emma,” Regina said softly.

“And Henry’s living there now so you might as well too,” Emma added quickly as she put the car back into reverse.

Regina frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Henry, he’s at my place.” Emma clarified as the car started to move backwards again and she turned and looked through the rear window. “He was doing that weird breathy thing and I couldn’t leave him at your place. And so I’m keeping him, so you have to stay, because I have your cat.”

Despite the dire situation Regina smiled as she looked incredulously at Emma. “You’ve kidnapped my cat?”

“Yep,” Emma said.

“Well, I’m not meeting your sister in my pyjamas,” Regina said. “Take me to mine so I can pack some things. This is only temporary though, just tonight.”

Emma remained silent as she focused on the rear window.

* * * 

“Hi, I’m Mary.”

Regina cautiously walked into the apartment and shook Mary’s outstretched hand while Emma took her packed suitcase away down a hallway.

“I’m Regina. I am so sorry to intrude like this.”

“Oh, it’s fine, fine, are you okay?” Mary asked as she pointed towards the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink? Something to eat?”

“I don’t want to be any trouble, it is the middle of the night,” Regina replied quietly, glancing up to the clock on the wall and wincing at the time.

“Well, I’m up and having some tea anyway.” Mary held up two mugs and smiled towards Regina.

Regina returned the smile and nodded her head in agreement. “Thank you, you’re very kind. I feel so guilty keeping you up like this.”

Mary filled the kettle and placed it on the hob to boil and looked at Regina with a questioning look. “So, what happened?”

Regina blinked. “Emma.. didn’t tell you?”

Mary laughed. “No, Emma doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Oh, she said she’d call you while I was packing so I assumed she told you everything.” Regina shifted nervously from one foot to the other as she debated exactly how to explain the situation. 

“I didn’t tell her anything,” Emma said as she appeared with a stack of folded linen in her arms. “I’ve changed the bedding and put your case in my room.”

“Your room?” Regina frowned.

“Yes, you’re sleeping in my room,” Emma replied as she started to lay the linens on the sofa. “I’m sleeping here.”

“Oh, no, no,” Regina walked over to Emma. “I can’t kick you out of your bed, this is ridiculous. I will just go and stay at..”

“No,” Emma said firmly and looked from Regina to her sister and back again. “No, you’ll stay here.”

“Emma..” Regina started.

“I think I’ll leave you two to it,” Mary said gently as she took her mug of tea and walked towards the hallway to give the women some peace and quiet. “Regina, your tea is on the counter. Feel free to help yourself to anything you need. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

Regina bade Mary goodnight and Emma grunted something similar as she made a bed for herself on the sofa.

“Emma, this is crazy, I can stay with daddy or at a friends,” Regina stated. “I don’t want to kick you out of your bed.”

“This is a two bedroom apartment, unless you want to bunk with my sister.” Emma looked up at Regina with a devious grin. “Or share with me?”

Regina folded her arms and looked at Emma with a serious expression.

“No? Then this is the way it is,” Emma said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Fine, if you want to spend a night on the sofa then fine,” Regina stalked towards the kitchen and picked up the mug of tea that Mary had made for her.

“A week,” Emma mumbled quietly.

“What?” Regina frowned as she struggled to hear what Emma had said.

“I want you to stay here for a week,” Emma said a little louder.

“A week? Why? This is ridiculous!”

“I’m not going to be able to come up with a plan overnight!” Emma cried back. “I need to think and I’ll think better if I know you’re safe!”

“So I AM a prisoner?”

“No, of course not, I just.. Jesus! I can’t explain it, okay? I’ll just feel better if I know you’re here where I know you’re safe. Your building front door is never locked, you were kidnapped in the middle of the night and not one person heard a thing. Here there is an intercom system and either me or Mary is here.. I.. look, please, just humour me okay?”

Regina remembered the negotiations of the early appointments she tried to set with Emma. “The weekend, I’ll stay the weekend and go back to my place on Sunday evening.”

“Monday evening,” Emma argued. “Final offer.”

Regina sipped the hot tea and closed her eyes in frustration. “I’m too exhausted to argue with you, Monday evening it is.”

Emma nodded and continued placing a sheet on the sofa.

“We have to tell your sister something.”

“We don’t have to tell Mary anything.”

Regina let out a sigh and shook her head as she looked around the apartment. 

“Where’s Henry?”

“In my room.. your room,” Emma quickly corrected.

“Is he okay?” 

“Fat and obnoxious, tried to take my face off when I was making the bed.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “If you hate him so much why did you bring him here?”

Emma threw her pillow onto the sofa and looked at Regina. “Because you love him and he was outside and freaking out and I knew you’d want him safe.”

“He was outside?” Regina frowned.

“Yeah.” Emma flopped onto the sofa. “When I got back to your place he was outside, freaking out.”

“Outside outside?” 

Emma looked up at Regina with a raised eyebrow and Regina nodded. “Okay, stupid question. Well, thank you for bringing him here.”

“I don’t hate him,” Emma mumbled as she kicked off her boots.

“Good,” Regina said with a smile. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you either.”

“I don’t know, he does a good impression of someone who hates me.”

Regina smothered a yawn and looked at Emma. “I’m sorry, I’m exhausted..”

“I’ll show you to your room,” Emma said as she stood up and pointed towards the hallway. She pointed to the first room on the right and said that it was the bathroom, the next room was Mary’s room and at the end of the hallway she opened the door to reveal her own room.

Regina hesitantly walked in and smiled at the fact that Henry was stretched out on the bed like he owned the place.

“As I said, its fresh bedding,” Emma said as she shoved her hands into her pockets and looked bashfully around the sparsely decorated room. “And if you can’t sleep you can analyse my design choices and tell me your conclusions in the morning.”

Regina chuckled. “What design choices? There’s a bed, a bedside table with a lamp. A chair, a desk with a laptop and a wardrobe. It’s a little blank.”

Emma smiled as she looked around the plain room. “Are you saying I’m empty?”

Regina sat on the edge of the bed and petted Henry. “No, you just said that, not me.”

Emma grinned at Regina’s evasiveness. “Go on, you must be thinking something.”

“I am,” Regina confirmed.

“And it is?” 

“It’s so important for you to know?” Regina asked with interest.

“I’m curious.” Emma shrugged.

“This room looks like you feel that you don’t live here. It’s almost as if you just recently moved in and have no intention of staying. You haven’t put any of your personality into this room.”

“How do you know I have a personality to put into this room?” Emma questioned with a cocky grin.

“Because all of your personal belongings seem to be in the living room, I don’t think your sister reads spy books so I am guessing they are yours? Then there’s the DVD collection, hours of serious drama boxsets and then a few girlie romance movies so I assume the boxsets are also yours? The movie posters on the wall in the hall, also yours I think.” 

Emma nodded her head. “I’m impressed.”

“So am I,” Regina said softly as she looked up at Emma while still petting Henry.

Emma frowned questioningly and Regina continued. “Thank you, for coming back to the apartment. And for coming to get me from Hopper. And for taking in Henry. You didn’t have to do any of those things and I’ll be eternally grateful that you did.”

“I.. I couldn’t leave you there,” Emma said with an overly casual shrug.

“No, of course,” Regina smiled, knowing that behind Emma’s bluster lay a woman who had been a lot more concerned than she was now letting on. “Anyway, it’s late, we should sleep and reconvene in a few hours and decide what our course of action will be.”

“Our?” Emma asked.

“Yes, our,” Regina repeated. “You’re not alone in this, we have to work together to fight this. I may not have chosen to become involved but now I am and I need you to know I’ve got your back.”

Emma nodded slowly, unsure what to reply and unable to remember the last time someone had her back.

“Goodnight Regina,” Emma said as she walked towards the door. “Breakfast at seven.”

“Nine,” Regina replied with a wink and a grin.

“Eight.” Emma smiled in return.

“Very well, eight it is,” Regina agreed. “Goodnight Emma.”


	18. Chapter 18

Mary looked up from where she was cooking pancakes for breakfast and smiled at Regina as the woman approached the kitchen.

“Good morning, did you sleep well?”

Regina looked around the room and noticed Emma’s absence before nodding politely towards Mary. “Yes, very well, being absolutely exhausted helped with that!”

“Yes, Emma told me about your crazy ex-girlfriend. Sounds awful!” 

Regina hesitated for a moment and Mary laughed as she flipped a pancake over in the frying pan. “Ah, I see. No crazy ex-girlfriend. Well, I did think that she was lying..”

“Oh.. no.. she..”

“Don’t feel you have to cover for her,” Mary said kindly. “She always does this, I’m used to it.”

“Can I help with breakfast?” Regina asked as she stood in the kitchen and wrung her hands together nervously, anxious to get onto another subject.

“No, you’re a guest, I hope you like pancakes?” Mary asked as she gestured for Regina to sit at the kitchen counter.

“I love pancakes,” Regina admitted. “Maybe a little too much for my waistline.”

Mary chuckled. “Well, life is short, we have to enjoy all the pancakes we can.”

Regina looked around the apartment again before asking, “is Emma not around?”

“No, she was already up and out when I woke up. But she left a note.” Mary indicated a piece of paper attached to the fridge door with a magnetic cow.

Regina slid off of the barstool and had a look at the note and smiled at Emma’s plain-spoken tone.

“Gone out. Don’t go out (either of you).”

“Is she always..” Regina trailed off, it was too early in the morning to think of a polite way to describe Emma’s brash tone.

“Rude?” Mary questioned. “Yeah, she’s always been like that.”

Regina smiled as Mary began to plate up the pancakes and gestured for Regina to sit down again. 

“You two seem very different.” Regina sat down and gratefully accepted a plate of pancakes and looked longingly at the array of syrups available.

“We are,” Mary agreed as she sat down and started to pour herself some coffee and gestured to Regina to pass her own mug. “We always have been like polar opposites. Emma’s the brains and I’m the heart.. not that she doesn’t have a heart, of course. More like her brain speaks first. Gets her into trouble.”

“So I notice,” Regina said as she took a sip of coffee.

“Emma hates to be hurt, emotionally. I know that no one likes it but Emma will do everything she can to protect herself from it. It’s as if the practical scientist inside her has perfected a method to never let anyone in and therefore never be hurt.” Mary speared a piece of pancake on her fork. “Or so she thinks.”

“Has she always been like that? Distanced herself from people?” Regina asked.

“Since our father died, yes.”

“She told me both your parents where alive and well,” Regina questioned with a frown.

Mary chuckled. “Then she lied. I think that was probably when she was.. well.. you know.”

“Trying to assert her authority over me? Yes, it was.” Regina chewed thoughtfully on the fluffy pancake. “So, since your father died she’s supressed her feelings towards people?”

“Oh, yes, absolutely.” Mary nodded vigorously. “And she knows she does it as well which is probably why she lied. The thing about Emma is she’s too smart for her own good. She knows her demons inside and out so she thinks that there is no reason to try to deal with them. And because she refuses to let anyone in..”

“The situation gets worse and worse,” Regina finished. “But, you two seem close? Surely she talks to you?”

Mary let out a laugh. “No.. I sometimes think I’m the last person she’d talk to.”

“May I ask what happened to your father?” Regina asked gently.

“Cancer,” Mary said with a soft sigh. “It all happened really fast. He and Emma were always together, he was the scientist of our family and he and Emma were always doing little experiments and debating theories, even when she was a child. I spent more time with our mom. I think when he died Emma felt a little lost, I’m not sure she ever got over that feeling.”

“Mmm,” Regina agreed. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent and sometimes it can be absolutely overwhelming.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Mary said kindly before blowing out a breath. “I just don’t know what will happen to Emma, it frightens me more than what will happen to me,” Mary admitted.

Regina frowned. “What do you mean?”

Mary rolled her eyes. “Of course, she wouldn’t have told you.”

Regina swallowed. “Told me what?”

“I have a brain tumour,” Mary confessed as she focused on drawing patterns on her pancake with a thin line of maple syrup. “I’ve been through every conceivable therapy but it’s persistent and.. well.. I’m at the end of the road.”

“I am so sorry,” Regina whispered and put her hand over Mary’s comfortingly.

“Oh, I’m fine, I’ve come to terms with my end,” Mary said softly in a way that led Regina to believe her. “As I say, I just worry about leaving Emma alone.”

“What about your mother?” Regina asked.

Mary let out a deep sigh and Regina braced herself for the next piece of the puzzle to fall into place. 

“When Emma joined the military mom wasn’t happy. She thought Emma was wasting her education and she didn’t like that Emma was working on censored projects and wouldn’t tell her what she was doing. Mom changed as she got older, she became more bitter and jaded and she couldn’t see anything positive or good in the world anymore.” Mary poured some more coffee and swirled the black liquid around the mug for a few moments. “With dad gone and us both having left home she spent a lot of time alone, she didn’t really see or speak to anyone and she became more and more solitary and with that more judgemental. When Emma came out as gay, one Thanksgiving in true Emma style, mom went crazy. The way she spoke to Emma, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, you don’t expect that from your own mom.”

“How long ago was this?” 

Mary blew out a breath as she looked up to the ceiling in thought. “Nearly five years ago now. We both left the house and vowed to never go back, I call mom now and then because otherwise the guilt will eat me up but Emma will never forgive her.”

Regina nodded thoughtfully as she pushed away her empty plate and held her coffee mug with both hands. 

“Mary, forgive me if this sounds rude but.. the way Emma treats you.. speaks to you..”

“It’s her defence mechanism, she acts like she doesn’t care to keep herself sane,” Mary explained. “She can be a complete bitch sometimes but I’d rather that than living my final days surrounded by someone weeping.”

“You’re both incredibly strong,” Regina uttered. 

“We make each other strong,” Mary admitted. “Neither of us shows the other any weakness, I suppose we’re pretending that everything is okay. Not the healthiest environment to live in, I’m sure.”

“Whatever gets you through things,” Regina said. “I know it’s clichéd but if there is anything I can do..”

“Is Emma in trouble?” Mary asked bluntly.

Regina let out a sigh. “Somewhat, yes. I.. I don’t know if I should..”

Mary held her hand up. “I understand, you shouldn’t say anything if you want to maintain her trust. Just.. just continue to look after her for me.”

Regina let out an ironic chuckle. “I think she’s looking after me at the moment..”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Mary said with a smile.

As Regina opened her mouth to answer the sound of the front door opening interrupted her and both brunette’s turned to see Emma walking into the room with an armful of paperwork. She looked suspiciously from one to the other and then kicked the door shut.

“You’re talking about me.”

“We were, yes,” Regina answered as she turned back around and sipped her coffee.

“I like her,” Mary said to Emma as she also turned around and sipped her coffee.

“No, no,” Emma said with exasperation. “You’re not supposed to be friends and gang up on me, just get along. Nothing more.”

“I think I’ll stay the week,” Regina said seriously and winked at Mary.

Mary chuckled. “Yes! I think you should, we’ll need a few days to go through Emma’s baby photos.”

Emma let out a sigh but before she could formulate a reply the telephone rang and Emma looked at the caller ID. “It’s for you, it’s Ashley.”

Mary quickly took the phone and walked towards her bedroom to take the call.

“So, you like my sister?” Emma asked as she lowered the paperwork onto the kitchen counter. 

“I do, very much. But I wish you had told me about her health,” Regina pointed out.

“There hasn’t been a lot of time for discussing that,” Emma said offhandedly. 

“I think you could have found the time if you’d wanted to. And if you do want to talk about..”

“I need you to be ready to run,” Emma said suddenly.

“Excuse me?” Regina asked with a frown.

“These people aren’t messing about, Regina. They’ll kill you to get what they want, you need to be ready to run. To leave the country. You need a grab-bag with your essentials in it, cash, fake identity, maybe a weapon, have you ever fired a gun before? Do you speak any foreign languages? Maybe you’ll be safer in Europe, it depends how far their reach is. We need to know who these investors are.”

Regina slid off her stool and stood in front of Emma and held onto Emma’s upper arms firmly. “Listen to me, I’m not running. I’m staying here with you and we are going to sort this out together. If it comes to it then we’ll all run, I’m not leaving you behind.”

Emma’s eyes flicked up to meet Regina’s and she swallowed. “But..”

“No, you don’t get to make these decisions, Emma. I do. I am staying here, do you understand?”

Emma let out a shaky breath and nodded her head in understanding.

“Good,” Regina let go of Emma and took a step back and plated a pancake on a fresh plate and directed Emma to sit down. “Sit, eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” Emma shook her head as she sat down.

“Your sister is a gem in the kitchen, eat the damn pancake,” Regina said as she held out a fork and waited for Emma to begrudgingly take it. 

Once Emma did Regina picked up a fresh mug and poured some coffee into it and placed it in front of Emma.

“Boscale Developments,” Regina said as she sat down and pulled her own mug back towards her.

“What?” Emma frowned.

“Boscale Developments Is the name of the company that is planning to sell the fuel,” Regina continued.

“How?” Emma blinked.

“Daddy’s password has been Henry01 since forever, I accessed his private emails this morning and had a dig around. He has invested everything in Boscale under the guidance of Archie Hopper. So I did some research on Boscale and they have a long history of selling military products to the commercial market.”

Emma bit her lip as she considered the information and mindlessly picked up the maple syrup bottle and started to pour it onto the pancake in front of her. 

“I’m going to do some more digging into Boscale and their associates,” Regina explained. “As I said, Emma, you’re not alone in this. You deal with the science, I’ll deal with the people.”

“But this is all my fault,” Emma muttered.

“None of this is your fault, you’re a victim,” Regina argued. “And I’m involved because.. well.. I’m involved because I.. I like you. You’re not alone and this isn’t your fault. Now eat the rest of those pancakes or I’ll end up eating them and then you’ll be saying I’m fat as well as my cat.”

Emma smiled and nodded her gratitude and cut off a piece of pancake.


	19. Chapter 19

Soon after receiving her phone call Mary returned to the kitchen to say that she would be spending the day out with her friend. Emma distractedly said goodbye to her sister as she booted up her laptop and started to search through her old research documents. Regina got the impression that Mary was leaving them alone to deal with whatever was going on and was grateful that Mary was happy to leave home for the day with no idea what was going on.

Over the course of the next few hours Regina and Emma sat in the living room and discussed the situation they were in. They analysed their options from all angles and played devil’s advocate against each other in an attempt to find a way out. While Regina psychoanalysed the players, Emma scientifically examined the situation and between them they predicted the possible outcomes of their different options. Most of them seemed to end up with the potential for one or both of them dead.

“We should take a break,” Regina announced when she realised that it was the middle of the afternoon. “I think it’s time for lunch.”

Emma jumped to her feet and gestured for Regina to sit back down. “I’ll make lunch, you rest.”

“I’m not an invalid,” Regina pointed out as she followed Emma to the kitchen.

“I never said you were.” Emma opened the fridge and looked at the contents with a thoughtful and yet distracted frown.

During their conversation Regina had finally admitted that she had been slightly injured during the abduction. The adrenaline running through her system had finally worn off and with it came a shoulder pain which Regina attributed to her initial attempts to fight off her kidnappers.

Regina had only mentioned the injury as Emma stared at her fidgeting on the sofa and questioned her about what was wrong. As soon as the words were out of Regina’s mouth she had regretted them as an uneasy grimace crossed Emma’s soft features, the guilty feelings returning with full force.

“I’ve seen what passes for lunch in your eyes.” Regina gently pushed Emma to one side and started to gather items from the fridge.

“You’re a guest, I should be cooking for you,” Emma muttered as she strolled around the small kitchen aimlessly.

“Can you cook?” Regina asked.

“No,” Emma replied. “Well, I can do the basics. Boil an egg, heat some soup, make toast.”

“Does your sister cook all your meals?” 

Emma let out a laugh. “Yeah, she’s my enabler.”

“And before you lived with your sister?”

“There’s a canteen at the base.”

“So you’ve never had to cook for yourself, I’m jealous,” Regina said as she opened and closed cupboards while looking for various utensils and pans.

“What were you and Mary talking about this morning?”

“Your family,” Regina replied as she cracked some eggs into a mixing bowl.

“Ah.”

“Yes, ah.”

“Look, I didn’t want to get into it all back then, I..”

“Didn’t want to think of me as your doctor, yes, I know.”

“That and I kinda already knew what you’d say,” Emma admitted as she sat at the kitchen counter.

“Oh?” Regina asked, moving around the kitchen with ease as she picked up various ingredients.

“My dad was my world, he died.” Emma shrugged. “It fucked me up.”

“How so?” Regina asked.

Emma flopped onto the counter. “I don’t want therapy.”

“I don’t want to be your therapist, we’re just talking. If you don’t want to talk about it then that’s fine but if we’re going to be friends then maybe you might want to open up to me and talk to me now and then?”

An easy silence fell over them as Regina continued to move around the kitchen and started to cook omelettes. Emma sat draped over the kitchen counter and watching as Regina cooked the food and silently placed the plates and glasses on the counter. 

Without a word Regina plated up the food and pushed the plate towards Emma and took a seat beside the blonde and started to eat her own meal.

“How did you feel when your mom died?” Emma asked tenderly.

“Empty. Shocked. Scared.”

Emma nodded and took a bite of omelette, savouring how good it tasted.

“I watched my dad go downhill so I think I skipped out on the shock because we knew it was coming.”

“Empty and scared?” Regina asked kindly as she concentrated on pouring a drink into her glass.

“Yeah, really empty. I learnt the hard way not to give yourself over to one person like that, because when you lose that person you lose a bit of yourself as well.”

Regina pursed her lips and shook her head a little.

Emma chuckled. “Okay, what was that?”

Regina looked up, surprised that her small facial action had been detected and quickly shook her head. “Nothing.. sorry.. carry on.”

“No, you disagree, what were you going to say?” Emma asked with an inquisitive smile and a tilt of her head.

Regina let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes for a brief moment before turning slightly to face Emma. “Look, this is just my perspective so don’t feel like I’m telling you how it is and please don’t ridicule because this is just my own personal and honest opinion.”

Emma nodded her understanding and watched as Regina’s face contorted thoughtfully.

“When I was young my grandmother died, she practically brought me up and the loss was very hard for me. I felt, as you say, like a part of me was torn apart and missing. But after a while I started to realise that my grandmother.. she.. she influenced all of me. The part that was missing was gone but the rest of me that was left behind was richer for having had her in my life.”

Emma watched as Regina robotically pushed her food around her plate as she considered her next words.

“I’m not exactly young, I’ve experience death in my life. Maybe it’s my coping mechanism but each time I lose someone I think about the part of me that’s left that is stronger and brighter for having had them in my life.” Regina looked up at Emma and smiled wryly. “I suppose you think that’s silly?”

“Not at all.” Emma shook her head. “I never really thought of it that way. My mother always said that he was always with us in our hearts and minds but I never really thought like that. I was just angry and bitter. And alone.”

“But surely you had Mary?” Regina asked.

Emma let out a loud laugh. “Mary? No, no, we never got on. I mean we have always been distant but when I was a kid Mary and I never got on. It was only a few years ago that we got in touch again. She made the effort and I just followed along. It was a blessing after the accident because otherwise I don’t know what I would have done.”

“What changed?”

“With Mary?”

Regina nodded and Emma shook her head. “No idea, she just started calling outside of family holidays and suddenly she was calling every week. Said she wanted to be closer to me. And I have to say it felt good to be back in a family environment, not that I told her that.”

Regina chuckled. “No, heaven forbid.”

They ate in silence for a while longer until Emma finally spoke again. “I never wanted to feel that pain again but after a while I realised that the loneliness was worse. But by then I was too stubborn to do anything about it.”

“There’s still time,” Regina said.

“Maybe I need to start with the right person.” Emma looked up at Regina with a soft smile.

“Maybe you already have?”

“I can’t lose you,” Emma confessed seriously. “Not you as well, I don’t think I can take it. I’m just pushing down all this stuff that’s happening with Mary and she lets me. She’s good like that, she knows what I need and how I am. But..”

“But, nothing,” Regina interrupted. “Let’s not worry about things that have yet to happen. We have a plan. Tomorrow you will work on some of those new calculations that I don’t understand and then on Monday I will go to see General Grant and tell him that I think you are fit to return to duty.”

Emma nodded her agreement. “And then we will meet at your office three times a week under the guise that I’m still undergoing therapy with you to make it all look legitimate and to give us a place to speak freely.”

“And the rest of the time you will be back at the base working on the project while I do some digging on Boscale Developments,” Regina finished.

“Regina..” Emma let out a sigh.

Regina frowned questioningly.

“Please.. please stay here..”

Regina sighed and moved off of the stool and started to clean the kitchen. “Emma, I can’t hide out here. I need to go back home.”

It wasn’t the first time they had discuss the subject that day but it was the first time that Emma had pleaded and Regina felt her resolve starting to shift, especially now she knew how hard Emma found it to connect to someone.

“You don’t need to go back home, give me one good reason why you should,” Emma demanded as she stared at Regina who was holding the dirty frying pan and trying to come up with a reason.

“You can’t,” Emma said. “You want to, I get that, totally understandable that you want to go back home. But should you? No. It’s safer here, you know that.”

“Emma, it’s just not practical, I don’t want to put your sister out by suddenly moving in with no explanation why. And you’re sleeping on the sofa which can’t be comfortable..”

“I’m going to ask, one more time, and I want you to really hear me out and think before you answer.” Emma took a deep breath before continuing. “Please, please stay here, just a few more days. Let’s get beyond this, let’s get into a place where we have some kind of leverage against these people or some kind of assurances.”

Regina closed her eyes and slowly nodded. “Fine, fine, I agree, can we just move on from this subject now?”

Emma smiled happily. “Yes, yes, of course. Thank you, I know it’s not easy for you to give up your place, your independence but between us we’ll figure it out.”

“Make sure you do,” Regina pointed the frying pan at Emma with a small smile. “I’m relying on that enormous brain of yours.”

“Cook me another lunch like that and I’ll have this solved by tomorrow evening!” Emma joked as she stood up and helped Regina to clear away the dirty dishes.

“You know, Major, it seems you’re becoming rather domesticated.” Regina nodded towards Emma’s attempted to clean things away.

“Oh this is all a ruse so you think I’m awesome girlfriend material for when all of this is over,” Emma said with a serious face. “Is it working?”

Regina smiled as she bit her lip and silently turned to face the sink that was slowly filling with water.


	20. Chapter 20

Regina sat nervously in General Grant's office and awaited his arrival. She had called Archie Hopper over the weekend and told him of her plan to see the commanding officer of the military base and advise him of Emma's improved condition. First thing Monday morning Regina received a call from General Grant's secretary advising her that she had a midday appointment with the man himself. Regina speculated that Hopper had a role in the sudden availability of such an appointment.

"Doctor Mills," Grant greeted as he entered the room and sat in his chair. "I hear you bring good news?"

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Hopper had obviously briefed the General prior to her arrival.

"Yes, a breakthrough in Major Swan's treatment," Regina said with a forced smile.

"Wonderful. So, she finally accepted therapy then?"

Regina swallowed down her desire to tell the truth and confess that no therapy had ever nor would ever take place between them but she knew to do so would ruin their plans.

"Yes, so it would seem," Regina said without elaborating. "I would very much like to get Major Swan back to work as soon as possible."

Grant frowned. "Isn't it too soon for that?"

"No," Regina replied firmly. "She needs to be back in familiar territory. Right now she is hiding from dealing with her…repressed issues." Regina hated the lie and fought hard to keep a neutral expression.

"I see." Grant nodded his head. "And you think that coming back to the base, to her lab? You think that would help her progress?"

"I believe so." Regina could see that the man remained unconvinced. "In fact I think this kind of immersion therapy is the only viable solution to Major Swan's…complex mental health issues."

Grant regarded her with a nod. "Well, you are the expert and Doctor Hopper speaks extremely highly of you. Of course Doctor Hopper will also have to speak with Major Swan, he is her physician here on-base and he needs to clear her return."

"Oh, I'm positive that won't be an issue." Regina gave a tight smile.

"I presume her therapy will be on-going?"

"Yes, I would like to see her at my office at least three times a week. I can discuss the specifics with Major Swan and Doctor Hopper."

"Wonderful, I will release her file to Doctor Hopper and once he has signed it off her credentials and access will be restored."

"Thank you, General. I know Major Swan will be very pleased to get back to work."

Regina left the office and handed her visitor pass to General Grant's secretary before making her way to towards the car park. As she approached her Mini she noticed Doctor Hopper leaning casually on the car with his arms folded. A smirk graced his face.

"Doctor Hopper," Regina greeted politely but with a sneer on her face.

"Nice to see you again, Doctor Mills."

"Likewise, especially now I'm not bound to a chair having been kidnapped in my own home."

Hopper ignored the comment. "You've seen General Grant?"

"You know I have."

"What did he say?"

"He was happy with my diagnosis and will refer it to you. Once you clear her return her access will be reinstated."

"Good. Has she made any progress yet? I'd hate to have to pay you both another social call."

Regina folded her arms. "Don't you know that you catch more flies with honey?"

"The softly softly approach is something I don't have time for, Regina."

"Threats rarely produce satisfactory results, especially when those results can only come about through a clear head. I don't know the first thing about science but I can tell that Emma works best when she is relaxed and without the intimidation tactics."

"We clearly have different working practices," Hopper replied.

"That seems so." Regina took a step closer and looked up at the taller man. "But here's the things. You've told us what you need us to do. Now let us do it. Hanging around car parks and making further threats isn't going to get you to your goal any quicker."

"If you say so." Hopper graciously stood to one side and opened the unlocked car door for her.

"I locked that," Regina commented and looked at him accusingly.

"Seems open now. Maybe you forgot?" Hopper suggested, smiling.

Regina got in the car and he closed the door and gave her a mock salute as he walked away from the vehicle. Regina sat in the car and looked around to see if anything had changed but couldn't see any differences to when she had left it half an hour ago.

* * * 

"I think he bugged my car."

Emma looked up from Regina's desk where she had been working and frowned. "Run that by me again?"

"Hopper." Regina said as she hung up her coat and flopped down on the sofa usually reserved for her patients. "He was by my car. It was unlocked but I know I locked it."

Emma walked across the room and sat in the armchair beside the sofa and picked up Regina's notepad and pen from the table. "And how do you feel about that?"

"Ha ha." Regina shook her head at Emma's attempt at humour.

"I'll have a look at it," Emma promised, putting the notepad and pen back down.

"What if you don't find something? I'll always assume you missed something. Or if you do find something and he knows we found it and then he puts one somewhere else. What if there's already one in here?" Regina sat up in panic and looked around the room.

"Calm down, there's nothing in here." Emma soothed.

"How can you be sure?" Regina whispered.

"Because I have a bug detector," Emma replied. "I checked as soon as you dropped me off here this morning. I'll do the same for your car, if there's any bugs we'll find and destroy them. I promise."

"Oh." Regina let out a relieved breath.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked Regina.

Regina sighed. "Yes, yes, I'm okay. It's just becoming more real now. Going to the base and speaking with your commanding officer, lying. I…I don't like doing that."

"I know you wanted to tell him the truth but we don't know if we can trust him." Emma stood up and returned to the stacks of paper on Regina's desk. "The only person I trust right now is you, Regina."

Regina watched as Emma sat down and picked up her pen and continued to work. "You're the only person I trust, too."

Emma looked up and smiled before remembering something. "Oh, your dad was looking for you earlier."

Regina jumped to her feet. "Daddy? Came here?"

"Yep," Emma replied. "Something about his golf day being cancelled."

"What did he say? What did you say?" Regina asked, stalking to the opposite side of the desk and leaning forward to stare at Emma.

"You know, I have a fantasy that starts just like this," Emma indicated Regina's posture with her pen. "You start off mad at me but before long-"

"Major," Regina warned.

"Doctor?" Emma asked with a lopsided grin.

"What. Did. You. Say?"

Emma lowered her pen to the desk. "I said, 'hello Doctor Mills, Regina isn't here at the moment, I'll let her know you called in to see her.'"

"And then?" Regina pressed.

"He left."

"Just like that?" Regina asked doubtfully.

"I did have my scary face on," Emma confessed. "He didn't seem a fan."

Regina regarded Emma for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Stay here," she ordered.

"I love a woman who takes charge," Emma said as she returned to her work.

"Stop that." Regina said from the door.

"Stop what?"

"Flirting," Regina replied.

"I like flirting with you," Emma said without looking up. "I like that you don't know what to say when I do. So I think I'll keep doing it."

Regina hesitated a moment before leaving the office and closing the door behind her. She let out a breath before marching across the reception to her father's office.

"Daddy?" Regina asked as she stepped into the room.

Henry looked up at his daughter. "Who is that mad woman in your office?"

Regina sighed and closed the door behind her. "Daddy, we need to talk."

"Yes we do, that woman threatened me. I nearly called the police!" Henry seemed rattled and Regina smirked, secretly happy that Emma had clearly done something to agitate him.

"Daddy, we need to talk about Archie Hopper," Regina said. She stood behind the chair that she usually sat in and placed her hands on the top of the back of the chair and stared at him. "And we need to talk about Boscale Developments."

Henry's mouth fell open and then quickly snapped closed again. He shut his eyes and nodded his head. "You better sit down, Regina."


	21. Chapter 21

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Regina angrily asked her father.

Henry hesitated before taking another sip of the scotch which he had poured for himself when he had started telling Regina everything.

“I don’t know, it seemed best not to,” he finally admitted.

“Best not to?” Regina repeated. “What gives you the right to…to lie to me about my mother?”

“I didn’t set out with the intention of lying to you I was…I don’t know. I suppose I was naively trying to protect you.”

Regina huffed and folded her arms as she stared out of the office window. As the story had unfolded she had found it impossible to sit quietly still and had jumped to her feet and paced the room while her father spoke.

“I felt guilty,” Henry confessed. “I knew she was unhappy but I had no idea things had gotten that bad. I had no idea what was happening in her life, the arguments got so heated I was just happy for some peace and quiet.”

Henry toyed with the glass in front of him. “It wasn’t until she was gone that I realised she had become addicted to shopping and gambling. She left the credit card statements and the bailiff letters for me to find and I…I just didn’t know what to do. I thought I’d failed her as a husband.”

Regina looked away and focused on the view out of the window, uncomfortable with seeing the older man so clearly distraught, not quite yet ready to forgive him.

“It was tens of thousands of pounds and she had sold everything of value. She’d borrowed against the house, against the business. We were going to lose everything and I could have handled that. What I couldn’t handle was feeling like I had failed my family.”

“You didn’t fail anyone, daddy,” Regina whispered without turning around.

“Oh, I did,” Henry said softly. “My wife was in a state of complete depression and I had no idea. Our marriage was breaking down and my distance and refusal to deal with it drove her to her spending. Which drove her to debt. Which drove her to…to…”

Regina crossed the room and placed her hand supportively on his shoulder as he sobbed loudly.

“And that’s when Hopper came on the scene?” Regina asked once he had calmed down again.

“Yes.” Henry nodded. “Your mother had some investments with Boscale Developments. A week after she died Archie called me to tell me that one of her investments had matured and that she had some money coming her way. I told him that she’d passed and we met up for drinks.”

Regina sat on the edge of her father’s desk. “And that’s when he told you more about Boscale Developments and a way to pay off the rest of mother’s debts?”

“Exactly. And, as I said, at first everything was fine. I reinvested the money he gave me from Cora’s original investment and a week later I had my initial investment back plus fifteen percent interest. Archie took a small fee and then I was able to pay off some of the debts. It seemed silly to not continue investing money.”

“And the same happened again?” 

“Many times,” Henry explained, “Hopper would tell me about a new investment and within a week or two I’d have my money back plus a sizeable return, despite the fee he took.”

“But then it changed.”

“I got greedy,” Henry corrected. “I started to do exactly what your mother had done, I borrowed from the bank and withdrew the equity in the house and the business and invested more and more. Then the money stopped coming back. I questioned Archie and he told me that there were complications with the investment. He told me that I still had to pay him his fee but he would waive it for a while.”

Henry let out a sigh and shook his head. “I’d expected the money back and when it didn’t arrive the bank wanted me to make payments that I couldn’t make. Archie said he felt bad so he lent me money, with a fee of course.”

“Of course.” Regina rolled her eyes.

“He asked me to get you to take Major Swan’s case, I was in deep debt and I needed him on my side. I didn’t see the harm and you’d wanted to get into military work anyway.”

“So you told me you thought it was a bad idea because you knew I’d do the exact opposite?” Regina’s lip curled into a smile.

“Well, I’m a professional therapist and I do know you very well,” Henry replied with a returning smile.

Regina stood up and paced the room again. “Daddy, Archie Hopper is very dangerous. He…he had people kidnap me.”

Henry jumped to his feet and rushed towards his daughter. “What? When? What happened?”

Regina placed a calming hand on his chest. “Daddy, please, let me speak.”

Henry watched Regina carefully as she spoke again, “he…he is threatening Emma, Major Swan. He wants her to go back to work and finish a project she was working on, a project where a lot of his investment money is tied up.”

“What does this have to do with you?” Henry asked quickly.

Regina sighed. “Emma…Emma and I are friends. We’ve never had a professional relationship, she saw to that.”

“What do you mean?” Henry frowned.

“Emma didn’t want therapy so she refused to speak to me about anything, we sort of ended up speaking socially─”

“─you’re seeing her?” Henry asked carefully.

“No. Well, yes, well…oh Daddy, I don’t know.” Regina turned away from him and continued to pace. “There’s no doctor patient breach, Emma saw to it that she never treated me as her doctor. She stopped our sessions as soon as possible and…well, I don’t really know what’s happening now. Being kidnapped kind of muddied the water.”

Henry approached again, taking Regina’s upper arms gently in his hands and looking her firmly in the eye. “Did they hurt you?”

“No,” Regina replied with a shake of the head. “No, they didn’t hurt me.”

“How did they…they─”

“They broke into my apartment late at night─”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Daddy,” Regina warned. “You can’t do anything. I’m fine, Emma and I are working on it but I needed you to know so you know not to trust Hopper.”

“Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?” 

Regina smiled softly. “He didn’t hurt me. Emma came and got me quickly. I’m…I’m staying with her and her sister. I’m safe.”

“So, Emma is the mad woman in your office?” Henry asked with sudden understanding.

“Yes,” Regina admitted. “She’s rather protective of me.”

“She’s not the only one.” Henry sidestepped around Regina and marched out of his office. 

“Daddy!” Regina called after him as he made his way to Regina’s office.

Henry threw the door open and Emma stood up and eyed the man warily. Regina followed a moment later and closed the door behind her.

“Daddy,” Regina hissed.

“So, you’re Major Swan?” Henry asked as he approached Regina’s desk where Emma had been working.

“I am,” Emma replied simply.

“And you…you saved my daughter?”

“I did,” Emma said, she glanced up at Regina momentarily.

Henry breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Major. I can’t tell you what I’d do without my dear, Regina.”

“You told him?” Emma asked Regina with a frown.

“I had to,” Regina explained. “Hopper is bound to use him for information and at least this way we know he is on our side.”

“We can trust him?” Emma asked Regina, ignoring Henry.

Regina rolled her eyes. “Of course we can, he’s my father.”

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Henry said, looking from Emma to Regina and back to Emma. “Just keep her safe.”

“Daddy, I’m right here,” Regina sighed.

“I’ll do my best, Sir,” Emma told him.

* * *

Later that evening Regina stood under the stream of hot water from the shower with her eyes closed as she contemplated the day. Emma had claimed she was making progress with the calculations but Regina wasn’t sure whether that was the case or if she was just trying to make the situation seem better. 

They had driven in comfortable silence back to the apartment where Mary greeted them on her way out to a movie night with a friend. Regina made a quick pasta dinner for them both and Emma ate while she continued to work. 

After a while Regina excused herself to the bathroom where she enjoyed a long hot shower to try to compose her thoughts and release the tension in her shoulder muscles. 

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a large towel around her and dried her body. She ran a comb through her hair and paused when she heard talking in the hallway. She couldn’t quite make out the words so she took a few steps closer to the door and pressed her ear against the wood.

“Don’t push it around you idiot.” Regina heard Emma say. “Eat the damn chicken. It’s chicken. You’re a cat. Eat the damn chicken. Eat the chicken. Eat the bloody chicken.”

Regina smiled to herself at the mental image of Emma sneakily feeding Henry despite her constant claims that he was fat.

“What are you doing? God you are the worst cat ever. Stop doing that and come here and eat the damn chicken.”

Regina ensured the towel was tightly wrapped around herself and quickly opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Outside Mary’s bedroom door Emma sat cross-legged on the floor pushing a piece of chicken towards Henry who was out of Regina’s line of vision.

“Finally cracked have you?” Regina asked with a grin.

Emma blushed for a moment at being caught but soon her expression changed as she stared at Regina.

“Nice outfit,” Emma commented.

“I thought Henry was fat?” Regina ignored the comment and the appreciative look that Emma was giving her.

“He is but he kept meowing at me so I thought I’d give him some chicken to shut him up for two seconds. As soon as I stood up he ran here so I followed him. When I got here, he ran in there.”

Regina took a step forward and looked into Mary’s bedroom through the open door at where Henry lay on his back staring at Emma and purring loudly.

“He’s playing with you, he was bored so when you showed him attention he thought it was a game,” Regina explained.

“So, he’s basically an asshole?”

“Deep down, aren’t we all?” Regina asked with a grin. “And he doesn’t like chicken.”

“Doesn’t like chicken?” Emma repeated incredulously. “He’s a cat.”

“A cat who doesn’t like chicken. Now if you had some prawn or salmon that would be a different matter.”

“Ungrateful,” Emma mumbled as she got to her feet and stood in the middle of the corridor.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Regina said as she indicated her bedroom with a nod of her head.

“Getting cold?” Emma asked as she noticed Goosebumps appearing on Regina’s arms despite the warmth in the apartment.

“A little,” Regina lied.

Emma licked her lips and took a small step forward. “Good, I have just the thing to warm you up, Doctor Mills.”

Regina swallowed. “I…I…well─”

Emma smiled. “I think it’s time you and I got down and dirty with a little,” Emma leaned in close to Regina’s ear and whispered, “self-defence.”

Regina took a step back. “W-what?”

“Self-defence,” Emma repeated with an innocent smile. “I’m not leaving you on your own tomorrow unless I can be reasonably sure that you can defend yourself.”

“But, but I’ll be in the office. With daddy and─”

“Your old father and your older secretary are going to be no use to you if Hopper and his cronies come to the office. I can’t be in two places at once and I have to get back to the lab. And I won’t be able to concentrate unless I know that you can defend yourself.”

“But…” Regina started.

“But?” Emma asked with a smile, clearly enjoying Regina being flustered.

“I didn’t bring anything suitable to wear,” Regina announced, pleased with herself for a way out of the situation.

“That’s okay, I have plenty of things you can borrow,” Emma said. She looked Regina up and down. “I’m sure we can find something comfortable for you to move around in. In fact I have just the thing.”

Regina swallowed again as she followed Emma into the bedroom. Emma opened her wardrobe and pulled out a drawer and started to remove some clothes. She threw a pair of tracksuit trousers over her shoulder and Regina caught them in one hand.

“Those should fit, you may need to fold them up at the legs a little because you’re tiny,” Emma said with a chuckle.

“Excuse me, you’re not much taller than me!”

“But I AM taller than you,” Emma replied matter-of-factly. “Ah, here it is.”

Emma pulled a t-shirt out from the drawer and handed it to Regina. 

“Living room. Five minutes. And I won’t be going easy on you,” Emma said as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Regina looked at the t-shirt in her hand and unfolded it, regarding the front. An outline of a pair of glasses was printed on the front with the caption “I like my women how I like my glasses.” 

Regina frowned and turned the t-shirt around to see the back slogan. 

“Sitting on my face.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.


	22. Chapter 22

When Regina entered the living room she noticed that Emma had pushed the coffee table and other pieces of furniture back to give them more room.

“I suppose you think this is funny?” Regina indicated the t-shirt with mild irritation.

Emma looked up and smiled at the t-shirt. “Yep, I do.”

Regina looked at Emma’s tank top and shorts and swallowed. She knew Emma was thin and muscular but the outfit emphasised exactly how toned a physique she had. While Regina was by no means overweight she never exercised and maintained her weight solely through dietary intake. She’d never seen the inside of a gym and had no desire to do so. As a result she was slim but certainly not toned and she felt a little uncomfortable in front of Emma, even if she was only baring her arms.

“Okay.” Emma clapped her hands together loudly, causing Regina to jump. Emma rolled her eyes but continued on, “the best self-defence is prevention, if you can get out of a situation without having to use force then do.”

“Amen,” Regina whispered.

“But that only works if we’re talking about a petty criminal, these guys mean business so that isn’t going to happen. It which case, when you find yourself in a situation you have to get loud.”

“Loud?”

“Back off!” Emma shouted as she stalked towards Regina. 

Regina jumped again and took a step back but a second later Emma was in her face and pushing her backwards while continuing to shout.

Regina backed up against the wall and winced and turned her head away from Emma.

“Step one,” Emma said calmly as she walked back to her starting position. “Is to signal for help while also showing the attacker that you’re not an easy target.”

“Could you please not do that again?” Regina asked.

Emma folded her arms. “Are you going to take this seriously or not?”

“I am,” Regina insisted. “But I didn’t like that.”

“You’re not supposed to like it, that’s the point.”

“But surely you can teach me in a way that we work together rather than you shouting at me and shoving me?” Regina asked.

Emma sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. “Okay, yeah, whatever. So, getting loud and defence is step one. As I say it also attracts attention to your situation.”

Regina nodded and stepped back towards the middle of the room.

“You need to understand the most effective places to hit an attacker, they will use their strength over you so if you can only get one hit in you have to make it count.”

Regina looked horrified at the suggestion.

“It’s no time to be civil, Regina,” Emma reminded her.

“I know, I just. I’ve never hit anyone before.”

“Clearly you’ve never had siblings,” Emma mumbled. “Look, you have to think about these big, tough guys who want to hurt you. You have to fight back. What are you going to do? Where are you going to aim for?”

“Well, I know the face is a good target.”

“Yes.” Emma smiled that Regina seemed to finally be taking the session seriously. “Eyes, ears, nose, neck, groin, knees and legs.”

Emma stepped forward and pulled Regina a little closer to her. “Positioning is everything. You want to be close enough to deliver an impactful hit but far enough away that they can’t grab you.”

Regina looked at her feet and edged around until she thought she was in a good position.

“Okay, good,” Emma said. “You know anything about Jujitsu?”

“Not really.” Regina shook her head.

“One of the main principles of Jujitsu is that you leverage your weight, it doesn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh or even your strength. You can always defend yourself by using your body and using the laws of physics to help you.”

Henry walked out of the hallway and sat in the doorway watching the two women with interest.

“But the primary aim in this case is to get away,” Emma continued. “Get in a nice, sharp attack and then get out of there.”

Regina gave a firm nod of her understanding.

“So, hit me,” Emma said.

“What? No!” Regina shook her head.

“Hit me, I need to know what we’re working with.”

“I am not hitting you,” Regina folded her arms.

Emma spun quickly around and looped her foot behind Regina’s knee and brought her to the ground. A moment later she was straddling Regina and force-held her hands above her head, her other hand clenched into a fist and ready to strike at Regina’s face.

The second Regina hit the ground she scrunched up her eyes and turned her head away, bracing herself for the impact of the punch.

Emma sighed and let go of Regina’s hands and sat up, straddling the doctor’s middle and shaking her head in despair. 

“You didn’t even attempt to fight back,” Emma muttered.

Regina opened one of her eyes and lowered her arms as she looked up at Emma. “I can’t help it, it’s built into me. Fight or flight.”

Emma shook her head. “No, fight is fighting back. Flight is running away. You just sat there and waited for me to hit you.”

“I’m sorry, this isn’t something I’m used to,” Regina whispered.

Emma looked down at Regina and hesitated a moment before standing up and reaching down to help Regina back to her feet.

“I’m…I’m going to show you some defensive moves,” Emma explained. “You’re not going to hit me but you are going to learn how to use your weight against someone.”

Emma placed her hands on Regina’s shoulders and positioned her while explaining the science of weight distribution and how to pivot larger body weights. Emma demonstrated a number of ways to escape holds and overpower attackers. She instructed Regina on different grips and techniques and they took turns in flipping the other onto the floor. 

“You know, you’re not too bad after all,” Emma said with a dismissive shrug as she turned her back on Regina. 

Regina glared daggers at Emma’s back and stealthily attacked her from behind and attempted to bring Emma to the ground. Emma seemed fully prepared for Regina’s attack and quickly countered and sent Regina flying to the floor face first.

“Ouch!” Regina cried out and started to get up. 

Emma straddled Regina’s lower back and gently pressed her back down to the floor.

“It’s not nice to attack someone from behind,” Emma said, smiling at Regina’s flailing attempt to try to get up. Emma quickly grabbed both of Regina’s hands and pushed them to Regina’s sides and held them in place between her thighs.

“You said this wasn’t a time to be civil,” Regina said over her shoulder, stopping her struggle as her situation became worse.

“True but I also said to reign in your anger and only strike when you’re absolutely sure you can win. You let your anger get the better of you there and you saw an opportunity to take me down a peg but you didn’t think it through. And now look at you.”

“So, that was a test?” 

“Yep,” Emma said.

Henry approached the two women curiously and Emma laughed as Henry sniffed Regina’s face.

“Henry, go away,” Regina sulked as the cat started to lick her hair. 

Emma gently pushed Henry away and as she rose up to do so Regina used the opportunity to turn over so she was on her back rather than her front. To her surprise Emma lowered herself back down rather than standing up.

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to let me up?”

“Maybe,” Emma joked. “I’m debating what to do with you next time.”

“Next time?” Regina asked sadly. “This is going to be a frequent thing?”

“You need to build up your strength,” Emma told her.

“I hardly think I’m going to have time to do that before─” Regina started.

“Not because of this situation,” Emma explained. “In general. You have to be able to take care of yourself. You’re a gorgeous woman, clearly wealthy and sorry but you are short. You’re an obvious target.”

Emma felt her thigh get bumped and looked down to see Henry head-butting her.

“He has been giving me the evil eye every time I touch you,” Emma said as she looked at Henry.

“Of course he hasn’t,” Regina replied. “That’s just his face.”

“No, seriously, he looks one hundred percent more grumpy when I touch you.”

“May he can sense the aggression in the room,” Regina surmised, looking up at Emma.

“Do you remember what you told me about commitment?” Emma asked, suddenly changing the subject.

Regina furrowed her brow as she recalled the conversation. “You said you didn’t do commitment and I said it can be a wonderful thing, two people being there for one another.”

“Do you remember what I said?” Emma said as she looked down at Regina laying beneath her.

Regina smiled. “Yes, you said it sounded like a fairy tale. And then you saw Henry and called him a beast.”

Emma looked down at Regina with a serious expression. “You’re…making me believe in fairy tales.”

The front door to the apartment opened and Mary entered. She looked at the two of them with a smile before cocking her head to the side as she regarded their positions.

“Am I interrupting something?” She closed and locked the door.

“I’m teaching Regina how to defend herself,” Emma explained without making a move.

“Ah,” Mary nodded. “Is that’s what the kids are calling it these days?”

“How was the movie?” Regina asked politely, gently pushing Emma up and off of her.

“Oh it was wonderful,” Mary smiled.

Emma stood up and held her hand out to help Regina up.

“What did you see again?” Regina continued as she got to her feet with Emma’s assistance. 

“Ghostbusters, it was an eighties revival night,” Mary explained. “I always loved that movie and it is so good to see it on the big screen again.”

“It’s a stupid movie,” Emma commented as she moved the living room furniture back.

Mary rolled her eyes as she filled the kettle. “You just didn’t like the science. And you’re grouchy because I interrupted whatever was going on in here.”

“Nothing was going on,” Regina gently assured Mary.

“Lack of science,” Emma corrected, ignoring Mary’s latter comment. “It’s a ridiculous movie.”

“Sometimes you have to…suspend reality for the sake of entertainment,” Mary said. “Sometimes movies and television shows aren’t that great at the science or continuity or whatever and you just have to ignore it and enjoy the bits they are good at.”

Emma blew out of a breath of air in disagreement. “I need to shower,” she said as she quickly headed off towards the bathroom without another word.

Regina watched Emma leave and then turned towards Mary who was holding up a mug in her direction. “Tea? Coffee?”

“I’d love some tea.” Regina smiled and sat on the kitchen stool as Mary made two drinks. 

“I’m sorry if I interrupted something, genuinely,” Mary said softly.

“We were just messing about,” Regina explained. “I tried to take Emma down when she had her back to me but she swiftly counteracted and before I knew it was I on my back.”

Mary laughed, “yes, that’s Emma, you can’t beat her. Not that you looked like you were trying that hard to resist.”

Regina blushed lightly and Mary slid a mug of tea towards her with a grin. 

The women made small talk about movies and the fact that Emma was returning to work. Emma and Regina had made the decision to tell Mary that much as it would be hard to hide it from her. They didn’t want to tell her anything more as they assumed the less she knew, the safer she would be.

After a while Emma vacated the bathroom and silently returned to her work in the living room. Unpacking files of paperwork and sitting on her half-made bed on the sofa as she read through papers and made notes. 

Mary commented on the time and decided it was time for bed and said goodnight to the two women. Regina said goodnight to Mary and sipped at her lukewarm tea as she watched Emma working. 

She’d seen a shift in Emma’s temperament throughout the day and she assumed it was something to do with the impending need to return to the base.

She stood and approached where Emma was working on the sofa, surrounded by paperwork.

“How’s it going?”

“Great.”

“That’s not at all convincing,” Regina pointed out.

Emma put her pen down and looked up to where Regina stood above her. “You asking me how it’s going can go one of two ways, it’s going well or it isn’t. If I say it isn’t you’ll want to talk about it.”

“And you don’t want to talk about it,” Regina surmised.

“Bingo,” Emma said as she picked up her pen and continued to look at the paperwork in front of her.

“Emma, can…can you be honest with me?” Regina asked as she sat on the edge of the coffee table and looked at her.

“I can,” Emma answered evasively.

“But will you?” Regina pressed.

“I’ll try, what do you want to say?”

“Are you okay about going back to the base tomorrow? Honestly?”

Emma paused for a moment and nodded her head. “Sure.”

“Emma.”

Emma threw her pen down again and sighed. “Honestly? No. I don’t want to go back. But it’s not like I have an option.”

“Let me guess, as the time gets closer─” Regina drifted off.

“The more the panic sets in, yeah,” Emma finished. “I’ve been close to a panic attack a couple of times today but I’ve kept myself together but I don’t know what’s going to happen when I go back to the base tomorrow.”

Regina was surprised at Emma’s openness but didn’t let it show. “I could…prescribe…”

“No,” Emma said gently and shook her head. “No, I don’t want medication.”

“Okay,” Regina said. “There are coping mechanisms. I could teach you some?”

Emma opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Henry jumping up onto the sofa. Both women watched as he walked over the paperwork, crumpling it as he went, heading towards Emma.

“Henry,” Regina admonished lightly.

Emma chuckled. “It’s fine.”

Henry walked towards Emma and bumped his head into her arm. 

“He wants me to leave,” Emma laughed.

“No, he likes you,” Regina said with a smile. “He’s showing affection, he wants you to stroke him.”

Emma lifted her hand towards Henry and the second she did he pushed his body under her hand. Emma stroked him over and over again and tickled under his chin.

“He likes you,” Regina said as she watched their interaction fondly.

“Maybe he can put in a good word for me,” Emma said, continuing to stroke the loudly purring cat.

“He doesn’t have to.”

Emma looked up at Regina and smiled. Regina returned the smile and then started to gather the paperwork up from the sofa and the table and stacked it all neatly on an armchair nearby. She then stood up and gently pressed Emma’s shoulder to encourage the woman to lay down on the sofa.

“I’ve had dreams like this too,” Emma commented with a cheeky grin.

“Oh, shush you,” Regina said as she draped a blanket over Emma and placed Henry next to her. “Rest, even if you can’t sleep just lay here and rest. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow. Henry will keep you company tonight.”

Emma made a low grumbling noise but didn’t look like she was going to get up so Regina smiled and stroked Henry and deposited a kiss on his head before doing the same to Emma’s.

“Goodnight,” Regina whispered as she walked towards her own bedroom turning off the lights as she went.

* * *

Regina wasn’t immediately sure what had awoken her but whatever it was had caused her to sit bolt upright in bed while her senses scrambled to figure out what was happening. 

A female scream came from the living room, presumably the second one of the evening and Regina was out of bed and pulling on her robe a split second later. As she opened the bedroom door she saw Mary opening her own bedroom door and the two women met in the hallway.

The sounds of Emma crying out in distress filled the hallway and Mary sadly looked at Regina. Regina immediately understood that this was a common occurrence and nodded her understanding to Mary.

Henry appeared at their feet, disturbed by the noise and looking from Regina to Mary for comfort. Meowing loudly at the two of them.

“I’ll go to her,” Regina whispered. “You go back to sleep.”

Mary nodded her gratitude. “If you need me─” she drifted off meaningfully.

Regina gave her a tight smile and Mary bent down and scooped Henry into a cuddle before stepping back into her room and closing the door again.

Regina took a deep breath and quickly made her way to the sofa, where she could see Emma thrashing and gripped by some terrifying demons in her sleep. 

“Emma,” Regina whispered carefully as she sat on the coffee table and watched the woman flailing around in the darkness.

“Emma, it’s okay, you’re safe,” Regina whispered again. She was mindful not to touch Emma as she had no idea of the subject of the night terrors nor did she have any idea how Emma would react.

Emma could clearly hear Regina’s soothing words and started to calm down.

“You’re safe Emma, open your eyes. Come back to me.”

Emma moaned and kicked with frustration at the blanket knotting around her feet. Regina reached down and gently disentangled the blanket.

“Emma, open your eyes,” Regina gently commanded and a few moments later Emma’s confused eyes settled on Regina’s.

“Regina?” Emma’s voice was hoarse from screaming.

“You were having a bad dream,” Regina said softly.

Emma looked pained that Regina had seen her in a weakened state and opened her mouth to speak.

“And so was I,” Regina quickly added. “I was having a terrible dream and I…I wanted to be with you. I’m sorry I woke you.”

Emma frowned, the disorientation of the night terror was still with her and she was struggling to catch up.

Regina stood and lifted the blanket and crawled into the makeshift bed beside Emma. 

“Can I stay here a while?” Regina asked. “Just until I can shake off this feeling?”

Emma looked at Regina warily and her eyes held a slight acknowledgement at what Regina was up to but she didn’t say anything. She simply nodded her head.

“Thank you,” Regina said. “It’s nice to know that you’re there for me.”

Regina wrapped the blanket around them and laid her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes.

“Goodnight, Emma.”

Emma swallowed. “Night, Regina.”


	23. Chapter 23

Two weeks had passed since Emma’s first day back at work on the base. Every day was exactly the same, Emma worked herself to exhaustion and then would then come back home to the apartment where Mary and Regina would fuss over her. She’d continue to work all evening and eat only sparingly. Each night she would experience night terrors and Regina would gently awaken her and hold her until she slept again. 

Emma didn’t ask Regina to continue to live at the apartment, she didn’t have to. Regina wouldn’t leave even if Emma asked. Every morning Regina would watch as Emma slowly woke up, blinking her eyes repeatedly until the world around her started to make sense.

At first she would smile as she looked into Regina’s eyes but as she woke up further and began to remember the smile would fade. With shame Emma would hurry out of the makeshift bed on the sofa and grab her clothing from the armchair and go to the bathroom. She would return minutes later fully dressed and aloof before saying a brief goodbye and leaving the apartment. 

The strain on Emma’s mental health was palpable as she desperately searched for answers. While she rarely talked about the project to Regina it was clear that no breakthrough was forthcoming. Emma’s exhaustion was growing daily and Regina knew that Emma couldn’t continue much longer, not to mention that their deadline was fast approaching. 

Archie Hopper had visited Regina at work a couple of times to put pressure on her and while Emma never said anything Regina knew that he also visited Emma.

Regina had seen her last patient of the day and left the office but had only got as far as her car. As soon as she sat in the car and closed the door she broke down in floods of tears at the endless cycle of misery she was forced to watch Emma trapped within. 

Regina had no idea how much time had passed but was shaken from her sobs by a gentle knock on the window which caused her to look up and straight into her father’s concerned eyes.

* * *

Henry sat patiently and waited for Regina to speak, he had silently helped her from the car and guided her into his office. Without a word he had made her a cup of tea and now he sat and watched while his beloved daughter sniffled and grasped the mug tightly.

“Sweetheart, please, talk to me,” Henry finally broke the silence.

“D-daddy,” Regina stammered, “I…I don’t even know what to say.”

“Start anywhere,” he encouraged gently.

Regina blew out a breath and reached for a tissue and dried her eyes and blew her nose before taking a calming sip of tea. 

“It’s Emma, I’m so worried about her,” Regina admitted.

“How so?” 

Regina took a breath before shaking her head. “I can’t talk about it, daddy.”

“Regina, whatever is happening…I’m worried about you, both of you. I need to know. Please,” he implored.

Regina remained quiet, gently sipping the hot tea and occasionally shuddering as sobs continued to leave her body.

“You’re living with Major Swan at the moment, correct?”

Regina nodded. “Yes, at her sister’s apartment.”

“I stayed away from Archie, as you asked,” Henry confessed. “But I hate not being able to help you, darling. I feel responsible…”

“You’re not responsible, daddy. It’s just events, no one is to blame,” Regina replied sadly.

“Has he been harassing you again?” 

“A little,” Regina admitted. “But I can handle him.”

“But you’re worried for Emma?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” Regina whispered. “She…she suffered a major trauma and now she’s being forced to go back to work and she’s not ready. It’s eating her up but she won’t talk to me about it. I feel like I’m literally watching her fall apart.”

“Do you know why she won’t talk to you?” 

Regina shook her head. “I don’t know, I can’t tell if she is too proud to admit she is struggling, too stubborn to admit it or…”

“Or?”

“Or if she won’t talk to me to maintain a non-patient relationship with me.”

“I see,” Henry nodded his understanding. “Is she independent? Has she struggled to admit to needing help in the past?”

Regina let out a small laugh. “Oh, very much both. She’s fiercely independent.”

“Does she open up to her sister at all?”

Regina laughed again. “No, absolutely not. She…she almost treats her sister with disdain. They have an odd relationship.”

“Odd how?”

“Yes,” Regina let out a tired sigh. “They aren’t at all close, in fact they are complete opposites. Mary is very sweet and caring but Emma seems to keep her at arms-length at all times. Mary has opened her house to her, she cooks for her, does all the shopping…she even cleans her clothes.”

“And Emma shows no gratitude?” 

Regina lowered her mug to the table. “I feel I’m giving you a bad impression of Emma. That behaviour is very much limited to her relationship with her sister. With me she goes above and beyond to be kind, she attempts to cook for me…even though she’s terrible at it. And even though she is suffering terribly right now and in a dreadful place she still puts my needs first.”

“Do you have an example?” 

Regina considered the question for a moment. “Yes, just yesterday she got home at eleven o’clock at night after working all day. She’d barely eaten, hasn’t eaten nor slept properly for two weeks but she still helped me with my self-defence training.”

“You’re learning self-defence?” Henry sounded pleased at the development. 

“At Emma’s insistence,” Regina rolled her eyes. “What I’m trying to say is that she felt terrible and no one would have blamed her if she chose to flop into bed but she put me first.”

“But she doesn’t act that way towards her sister? Is there a reason for that?” Henry quizzed.

Regina thought for a moment. “I don’t know…I don’t always understand the way Emma operates. I know they never got along as children and with Mary’s illness I do wonder if Emma is keeping her at arms-length in order to not get hurt─”

“Mary’s illness?” Henry disrupted.

“Brain tumour, terminal,” Regina revealed grimly. 

Henry cocked his head to one side as he considered that information. 

“Daddy?” Regina asked her father at his distant expression. 

“Why would Mary, a woman who is dying from a brain tumour, put up with that behaviour?” Henry asked.

“I─” Regina paused and frowned. “I…don’t know.”

“How is your relationship with Mary?”

“Good, very good. She’s been a lifesaver during all of this, despite her illness she has done so much to care for Emma. And for me.”

“Regina, why do you think Emma treats Mary the way she does?”

Regina considered the question for a while, taking her time to let the question toss and turn in her brain before she finally shrugged her shoulders. 

“I really don’t know, daddy. I’d just kind of accepted it. But none of this helps me with my current problem.”

“Understanding Emma’s thought processes will help,” Henry pointed out. “As you know there are reasons for everything we do. Nothing we do is chance.”

* * *

When Regina returned to the apartment Mary was cooking dinner in the kitchen. She smiled up at Regina as soon as she entered the front door. “There you are!”

“Sorry I’m late,” Regina apologised as she hung up her coat. “I got caught up in the office. Something smells delicious.”

“Thank you,” Mary smiled warmly. “I remembered that you mentioned not having had spaghetti and meatballs for a while so I thought I’d make it for you.”

“That sounds divine!” Regina sniffed the air. “I’m just going to get out of these work clothes and I’ll help you cook.”

“Oh, no, you’re a guest remember?” Mary said as she added the homemade meatballs to the frying pan.

“A guest who has semi-permanently moved in,” Regina said with a laugh.

“A very welcome guest,” Mary replied with a genuine smile.

Regina walked down the corridor towards her bedroom, on her way she noticed that Henry was in Mary’s bedroom as he so often was. She paused in the hallway and watched as he lay on the floor, his paw stretched out in front of him. He slowly flexed his claws as his eyes remained fixed on the floorboard under his claws.

She turned away and went to the bedroom and got changed into jeans and a casual sweater and joined Mary in the kitchen. She helped with the final preparations for dinner.

“Emma said she’d be working late again,” Mary commented. “Well, she did when I called her and asked. Obviously she didn’t volunteer any information.”

“Sounds like Emma,” Regina said, remembering the text message that Emma had sent her earlier that day advising Regina of her plans to work late.

“Yes, she gets very lost in her work,” Mary said as she poured some wine into her glass and offered the bottle towards Regina.

“Thank you.” Regina took the bottle and poured a small amount of wine into her own glass. “How was your day?”

“Good, I went to my therapy group,” Mary said. “It’s so nice to have people to talk to, people who understand.”

“I have to say you are extremely brave, I don’t think I’d take the news as well as you do,” Regina commented.

“Oh, I have my moments,” Mary admitted. “But that’s why it’s nice to have the group, I can be one person with them and another when I’m at home.”

“Emma is very lucky to have you,” Regina said thoughtfully. “In fact, Emma wanted me to keep this a secret but I have to tell you…”

Mary lowered her glass and looked at Regina with interest. “What is it?”

“Well, you know I can’t go into all the details about what is happening at the moment with her work,” Regina said quietly. “But…well…”

“What?” Mary’s eyes twinkled with interest as she leaned even closer.

Regina bit her lip nervously. “We’re running away. Tonight.”

“What?” Mary jolted upright. “W─why? Running away?”

“Yes,” Regina looked excited. “Emma didn’t want to tell you until the last second but I told her that was wrong. You need time to let it sink in, to properly say goodbye.”

Mary’s eyes raced around the table, taking in the news.

“You see, Emma was being blackmailed, you can’t tell her I told you that. That’s why she’s been working so hard and under so much pressure. But she’s cracked it, what they need to know, she’s figured it out. But she’s going to blow the whistle on them and then we’re running away.”

“W─wow,” Mary stammered. “That’s, wow…that’s a lot to take in.”

“I know, this is why I couldn’t keep it from you,” Regina said. “I’m going to miss you so much but there’s just no other way. The people after Emma are dangerous so we’ve been planning our escape.”

“I…I can understand that,” Mary said with an understanding nod.

Regina suddenly let out a loud sigh. “Oh, damn, I was meant to pick something up from my apartment. With everything that’s been happening I completely forgot. I better run and get it now, I’m so sorry to dine and dash like this but─”

“No, no, that’s fine,” Mary replied. “You must have a lot to think about right now.”

“Yes, I really do,” Regina said as she got up and grabbed her coat. “Look, I’ll be back in about twenty minutes, okay? Then we can finish that wine and say a proper goodbye.”

“Sure, I’ll be here. I’ll help you with packing and arrangements when you get back,” Mary said with a smile.

“You’re amazing, we’re both so very lucky to have you here.” Regina said with a smile before leaving the apartment

* * *

Emma yawned as she climbed the steps towards the apartment. She held two large files under her arm and rubbed her forehead with her free hand in exhaustion. 

She reached into her pocket and plucked out her keys and let out another yawn as she opened the door. 

“Home,” she said tiredly without looking up as she kicked the door closed behind her.

“Welcome home,” Regina replied.

Emma turned around to look at Regina and blinked in surprise when she saw her sister bound and gagged to the dining room chair and Regina sitting on the kitchen counter watching Mary with contempt. Both brunettes were bruised and Regina was sporting a bloodied nose that she was cleaning up with a tea towel.

“Your sister is a piece of work,” Regina said as Emma continued to stare at them both in shock.

“She’s also a director of Boscale Developments,” Regina added.


	24. Chapter 24

Emma blinked in confusion. The paperwork she had been holding under her arm fell to the floor but she hardly noticed.

“What…what the hell?” Emma looked from Regina to a bound and gagged Mary and back to Regina again. 

Regina patted her bleeding nose gently with the tea towel.

“I said she’s a director of Boscale Developments,” Regina repeated. 

“H-how, what─” Emma stammered, eyeing her sister suspiciously.

“It was you who made me suspect her,” Regina answered Emma’s half-formed question. “You’ve never trusted Mary, she bent over backwards for you and you never once acknowledged it. It got me to thinking that maybe you knew something without knowing you knew something.”

As Regina lowered the tea towel Emma saw a black eye forming on Regina’s face and stepped closer to her.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked as she tilted Regina’s face towards the light and examined her.

“I will be,” Regina said softly.

Emma didn’t seem convinced but turned to face her sister nonetheless. “I don’t know why you think I tipped you off, I had no idea Mary was involved in this.”

“While that’s certainly true,” Regina explained, “you knew something was up. Your instincts told you not to trust her. I was almost taken in by her act but when I started to think of how you treated her and I knew there had to be a reason for it. More than just general sibling discord.”

Emma eyed a shoebox on the table and walked over looked at the contents. She picked up a mobile phone and some papers and started to examine them.

“You know how Henry liked to sit in that certainly place in her room?” Regina said. “That’s because there was a loose floorboard, he could feel the draft. I thought it was a warm pipe or something but it turns out that it’s where she hid anything incriminating.”

“Back up.” Emma held up her hand. “Start again…what happened here?”

Regina slid off of the kitchen counter and pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat opposite Mary. 

“I’d been thinking about you and Mary on the drive home and it just kind of opened my eyes. So I set a little trap.” Regina looked up at Mary and cocked her head to the side with a smile. “I told her that you and I were running away together then told her I had an errand to run and I left the apartment.”

Emma scrolled through the mobile phone from the shoebox. “And then you came back and caught her?”

“Yes,” Regina said. “I caught her making a very damning phone call. I waited for her to finish the call and then I made my move. She got in a couple of good punches but I did what my self-defence teacher taught me and made my strike count.”

Emma put the mobile phone down and started looking at the paperwork.

“Bank statements, account login details…” Regina explained before pausing and looking at the tea towel she had pressed to her face. “The bleeding seems to have stopped, I’m going to go into the bathroom and clean up.”

“Okay,” Emma said distractedly as Regina walked out of the room.

As soon as the door to the bathroom clicked shut Mary looked at Emma imploringly and started to make muffled noises through her gag.

“Shut up, I’m trying to think,” Emma said as she lowered the papers back into the shoebox and closed her eyes for a second.

Mary continued making noise to try to get Emma’s attention and even started trying to shake the chair. Emma looked up at her with a sigh and took a step forward and yanked the gag down. “What?”

“Emma, she’s insane, you can’t trust her,” Mary said quickly. Her eyes nervously darted towards the closed bathroom door. “She’s working with Boscale, Emma please you have to trust me. She planted these documents and phone, I’ve never seen them before. You have to be careful, she has a gun!”

Emma looked at her incredulously. 

“Emma, I don’t care about what happens to me but please you have to trust me, she’s manipulating you.”

“You say she has a gun?” Emma frowned as she looked around for any evidence.

“Yes, your gun, it’s in her handbag,” Mary said as she tilted her head backwards and indicated the bag beside the sofa. 

Emma walked over and saw her service weapon in Regina’s handbag, she picked it up and examined it in confusion.

“Emma?” Regina said carefully as she exited the bathroom, eyeing the gun. “Is everything okay?”

“Don’t trust her, Emma!” Mary cried.

Regina looked at Mary in horror. “What lies have you told her?”

“No lies, just the truth,” Mary spat out. “You’ll never get away with this!”

Regina looked at Emma and held up her hands passively. “Emma, just listen to me. Before dinner I got changed in your bedroom and I found the gun. I didn’t know what was going to happen tonight and I assumed she would know where it was so I took it so she couldn’t use it. That’s all, I had no intention of using it.”

“You expect her to believe these lies? You suddenly come out of nowhere to worm your way into Emma’s life. When that doesn’t work you’re suddenly being threatened? Emma feels that she has to protect you because you’ve toyed with her, flirted with her and made her feel like there is something between you!” Mary shouted at Regina. “Sleeping with her on the sofa each night, worming your way into her heart! You heartless bitch!”

“Enough,” Emma breathed out as she held the gun up towards Regina.

“Emma, please…” Regina said as she stared down the barrel of the gun.

“Quiet,” Emma said as she stepped around the dining table, holding the gun up and pointing it at both of them. “Regina, sit down.”

Regina quickly sat down beside Mary and looked at Emma with fear in her eyes. Emma noticed Regina’s hands trembling slightly on the table top. 

“Why did you suspect Mary?” Emma asked Regina.

“Emma! Please!” Mary whispered in horror.

Emma pointed the gun squarely at Mary. “Stop talking or I’ll gag you again. I want to get to the bottom of this and I haven’t slept or eaten properly in a while so I’m taking this real slow until I figure out what the fuck is going on here.”

“I was talking to my father,” Regina interrupted, seemingly trying to get the conversation back on track. “I was…well, you may not believe this right now but I was worried about you. I went to see my father to talk to him about it. I was telling him that you didn’t want to talk to me about what was bothering you, I told him you were fiercely independent and then he asked if…if you talk to your sister.”

“As if,” Mary said and then let out a derisive snort of laughter which was soon silenced by a look from Emma.

“I…” Regina continued nervously. “I told him about how you treat Mary, about her illness. He made me question things. He made me think about the reasons why you treat Mary like you do.”

“And how do I treat her?” Emma asked coldly.

“With disdain,” Regina replied easily. “I won’t deny it, I was shocked at first but I become used to it. I realised I became used to it because in this environment it seemed acceptable. Mary accepted it and glossed over it so it was almost impossible to see it. But then I did and I started to think about it, about Mary’s illness that she shows almost no symptoms of─”

“How dare─” Mary started.

Emma jumped to her feet. “Enough! Shut up!”

Mary closed her eyes and winced in fear at Emma pointing the gun to her head.

“Emma, maybe I should replace the gag, for her own protection?” Regina asked softly.

Emma nodded and watched silently as Regina replaced the gag and then sat back down in her seat.

“Go on,” Emma pressed, also taking a seat.

“Well, I…I started to think about how much Mary does for you and how you…how you treat her. The only conclusion I could come to was that you dislike her for some reason. It was what made me think about things and the more I thought, the more obvious it became to me.”

“Go on,” Emma repeated when Regina paused.

“You’ve always known that Mary was playing you but your brain wouldn’t let you fully process what you knew. It would have been too painful. I don’t know if you believe that or not but that…that’s what I believe.”

Regina took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and continuing on. “I set a trap, I watched her reactions and then I gave her the opportunity to make contact with whoever she was working with. She didn’t hear me come back into the apartment. I…I heard her on the phone telling someone she had news and needed to meet with them tonight at ten, she said it was about you.”

“Go on,” Emma said again. 

“We fought, she gave me this,” Regina pointed to her black eye and then to her bloodied nose, “and this. But I managed to wind her and then I…I hit her head on the floor. God help me but I did.”

Regina let out a shaky breath at the memory of the violence.

“Go on.”

“There’s nothing else to say,” Regina cried out. “That’s everything. I…I don’t know what else to say, Emma. I know you want answers but that’s all I have.”

Emma let out a sigh and looked from Regina to Mary helplessly.


	25. Chapter 25

Emma sat on the edge of her bed with her gun dangling loosely in her hand as she stared at the floor. She had given up questioning the two women she most cared about and had silently retreated to her bedroom to think.

“Can I come in?” 

Emma looked up to see a nervous looking Regina in the doorway. She shrugged her shoulders and looked back down at the floor. She felt a dip in the bed beside her but remained impassively staring at the floor.

“Please talk to me,” Regina whispered.

“I don’t know what to say,” Emma admitted.

“Do…do you trust me? Do you believe me?” Regina asked.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Emma replied blandly. She looked sideways at Regina. “Or who to believe.”

Regina nodded her head. “I accept that and I understand it. What can I do to help?”

Emma laughed bitterly. “How do I know you’re not manipulating me?”

Regina shrugged her shoulders. “That’s a decision you have to make for yourself.”

Emma raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to try to convince me of your innocence then?”

“What would be the point? You need to come to this conclusion on your own.” Regina leaned back and rolled her neck to loosen the tight muscles. “You have all the information, you just need to correctly file it.”

Emma snorted a laugh. “File it? Is that what I’m supposed to be doing? Are you saying my brain is disorganised?”

“I’m saying that you have a lot of information to take in and you need to let it all settle.”

“As easy as that, eh?” Emma grumbled.

“Mmm,” Regina mumbled as she lay back on the bed. 

Emma turned to regard the woman lying beside her. “One of you is deceiving and manipulating me. How can I trust anything either of you says?”

“You can’t,” Regina told her plainly.

“That’s all the help you’re going to give me?” Emma questioned.

“Yes,” Regina agreed, closing her eyes as she twisted her head from side to side.

Henry jumped up onto the bed and head-butted Emma’s arm as he loudly purred. Emma reluctantly rolled her eyes and stroked his head and looked down at Regina. “What are you doing?”

“My neck hurts,” Regina admitted. “Your sister packs a punch when she…well…punches.”

“You never pursued me,” Emma mumbled. “It was always me, at the start, I came after you. I don’t think you were lying to me when you were concerned about your career and what people would think.”

Emma twisted her body around to get a better angle to scratch under Henry’s chin. “I…I made you do shots. I came to your apartment. I…”

“You?” Regina asked after a few moments of silence.

“Mary never asked me to go with her to her appointments,” Emma said softly. She stared into the distance, mindlessly stroking Henry’s head as the pieces started to come together in her mind. “Brain tumours, cancerous growths, I’ve…I’ve always been afraid of them. After seeing what happened to my father I…I couldn’t even talk about them.”

Regina opened her eyes and looked up at Emma expectantly.

“She told me she would never expect me to go to her appointments because of that. She never spoke about it. She said she was doing it for me. She used that particular illness because she knew of my fear.” Emma let out a sigh. “My sister is a fucking monster.”

“Yes, she is,” Regina agreed.

“How did I not see this before?” Emma asked Regina, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“Because you didn’t want to and because she knew exactly what to do and what to say to keep you exactly where she wanted you,” Regina replied.

Regina sat up and regarded Emma. “But now we know and no one knows that we know.”

“Don’t give me more of a headache than I already have,” Emma implored, wiping at the tears that started to spill down her face.

“We can use this to our advantage,” Regina tried again. “I have an idea.”

* * *

Archie Hopper stared out into the darkness. The pale moonlight allowed him to see the outlines of the fishing boats that were gentle bobbing up and down in the sea. He drew his long winter coat around himself tighter and turned when he heard the sound of someone approaching.

“You’re late, are you okay, my love?” Archie called out as Mary approached.

Mary remained tight-lipped and Archie frowned. “What is it? Did the idiots slow you down?”

“Shut up,” Mary hissed as she got closer to him.

“What?” Archie asked her with confusion.

“She said shut up.”

Archie spun around and blinked in confusion when he saw Regina standing behind him. He turned again to look at Mary in shock. “What…what’s going on?”

“We’re done,” Mary informed him with a despondent sigh.

Archie spun back to look at Regina who smiled at him. 

“So you know?” Archie smiled back. “Well there’s nothing you can do about it. We kept our tracks covered, we haven’t done anything illegal, nothing traceable anyway.”

“Oh, you’re quite right.” Regina nodded her head in agreement. “You covered everything remarkably well, there is not a single illegal act I can attribute to either of you.”

“So you know that Mary is not what she seems,” Archie shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t change our deal. In fact it gives me reason to decrease the amount of time I’ve given you. This changes nothing.”

“Actually, I’m afraid it does,” Regina said. “You see, while I couldn’t find any illegal activity…I did manage to find details of your clients. The ones you have promised to sell the fuel to. Now, I don’t know much about major fuels distributors or aviation companies but I do know something about the Russian gang you’re selling to.”

Archie balked in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t know?” Regina chuckled. “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. You were too busy thinking about the money to think about who you are selling to. You were worried about losing the big deals but the truth is you should be worried about Aleksey Azarov, down on your spreadsheets as AA Corp. I suppose you thought one of those A’s stood for Aviation? Maybe Airline?” Regina bit her lip. “Oops.”

“They found the logins for the email account,” Mary explained. “They copied everything.”

“You see, it really is a small world because Aleksey is a patient of mine,” Regina explained. “Since he was released from prison the judge issued a court order for him to see a therapist. He’s a volatile man. Quite polite with me, of course, but he has these bursts of violence. I’ve tried my best to reign him in but I dread to think what he could do when properly motivated.”

Archie swallowed nervously. “What do you want?”

“Simple, Emma and I are leaving town,” Regina produced a piece of paper. “This is Emma’s discharge order, I’ve signed it but I need your counter signature to give to General Grant. Sign it and then leave us alone. Don’t come looking for us, don’t even think of us. If you do I will call Aleksey and tell him your plans to sell him defective merchandise to make a quick buck. I have a feeling he will feel very strongly about that.”

“She’s emptied the account,” Mary said softly.

“You what?” Archie turned on Regina and glared down at her.

“Someone had to fund our new life, might as well be you,” Regina explained.

“I─” Archie started towards Regina but stopped at the feel of cold metal on the back of his neck.

“I will very happily blow your brains out for what you’ve done to me,” Emma’s voice threatened. “But I’m trying to be a better person. So take a step back from Regina and we’ll end this amicably.”

“So, you’re sailing off into the sunset together?” Archie asked, laughing bitterly. 

“Not through choice,” Regina replied. “We have little option thanks to you, we wouldn’t know who to trust, would we?”

“And your father?” Archie asked.

“Well, seeing as his debts were mysteriously paid off this evening he will no longer be dealing with you,” Regina said. “While I don’t always see eye to eye with my father, I wouldn’t think twice about calling Aleksey if anything were to happen to him.”

Mary looked at Archie, the resignation clear in her eyes and Archie let out a deep breath. “Well played, Doctor Mills, well played indeed. I see we underestimated you.”

“Not really, you wanted me to help Emma.” Regina took a step closer so she was toe to toe with the man. “So I did.”

* * * 

“What now?” Emma asked once they returned to Regina’s car.

“What I said, we’re getting out of town.” Regina replied, starting the engine.

“T-together?” Emma asked, they hadn’t discussed the finer points of Regina’s plan. Emma was still in deep shock from the events of the evening and had allowed Regina to take charge.

Regina bit her lip shyly as she looked up at Emma. “Well, yes, I kind of hoped that we could. I mean, you are the reason I’m having to leave town and start again.” She smiled. “You kind of owe me.”

“Actually I think you have a part to play in that too,” Emma argued with a grin. “I don’t see why I should shoulder all the blame.”

“Always arguing,” Regina shook her head as she began to drive down the street. “So, where to? I kind of like the idea of the coast.”

“I prefer the mountains,” Emma replied.

“Oh, good, me too,” Regina said with a chuckle.


	26. Chapter 26

“You were pretty bad ass back there,” Emma said. “Pretty hot.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, you have to put on an act when dealing with people like that.”

“Let’s get back to my place and pack up, I want to be out of there before Mary comes back. I never want to see her again.”

“I don’t blame you,” Regina agreed. “And then we’ll get out of town as quickly as possible, I don’t want to hang around just in-”

“Regina, watch out!” Emma screamed, pointing to the driver’s side window.

Regina didn’t have a chance to react as a car sideswiped them and sent them into a spin. The sound of rubber squealing and metal crunching was deafening for a few moments until silence fell. The only sound Regina could hear was her own heartbeat which was racing in her chest. She lifted her head up and tried to piece together what was happening, what had happened.

“Emma?” She whispered.

She turned her head, ignoring the pain that raced through her neck as she did so. Emma was unconscious, her head leaning against the broken glass passenger window.

“Doctor Mills.”

Regina turned her head again to see a man in a dark suit leaning into the car through the broken window. It was only then that she realised that the shattered glass was covering her.

“Time to come with me, Doc.”

“W-what?” Regina stammered, she turned to look at Emma again. “No, no, wait…”

“Get her in the car,” the man in the suit ordered. Two other men appeared and one yanked the bent car door open while the other reached across her and undid her seatbelt. 

“No! Don’t-Emma! Emma, wake up!” Regina cried out.

She was pulled from the car and the force of the movement caused her to collapse onto her knees as dizziness swamped her vision. “No…wait…who-who are you?”

The man turned around and looked down at Regina. He smirked. “You can call me, Mister Gold. I’m the man who you stole from. You just spoke with, and threatened, two of my employees.”

Gold looked at the men. “Bag her.”

***

“Emma?”

“Emma?”

Emma opened her eyes a tiny bit and quickly slammed them shut again. She winced. The pain surging through her head was intense and she wondered how much she’d been drinking.

“Emma, come on, you have to wake up now.”

She opened one eye and saw Mary looking at her. “Sleeping,” she mumbled and closed her eye again.

“No, you’re not, you’ve been in a car crash and you need to wake up.”

Emma felt cold air on her face and realised that her hand felt hot. She opened her eyes and looked down to see her hand was cut and warm blood was resting on it. Then she realised she was in a car. There was broken glass everywhere. The passenger door was open and Mary was leaning over her with a terrified expression.

“What…I-”

“Pull it together, Emma, come on,” Mary bit out. “We have to get out of here.”

Things started to slot together in Emma’s mind. She sat up, cursing at the pain that coursed through her head. “You! You fucking-”

Mary backed away quickly as Emma reached for her, prevented from getting too far by her seatbelt. She paused and turned to look at the empty driver’s seat. “Regina?” 

“She’s gone. And we need to go too, come on.”

Emma looked at Mary. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Fine, stay here and take your chances with bleeding to death or dying from exposure.”

“Why are you even here?” Emma glared at her.

“Because I recently realised I’m not the only one who’s been fucked over.”

Even in her current state Emma was shocked to hear Mary curse and raised an eyebrow.

“Archie was using me. He’s gone. Gold knows the money is gone and he is out for blood.”

“Gold…money?” Emma blinked in confusion.

“Gold. Elias Gold, he is the one running this whole scheme. Archie and I are the middlemen. Excuse me, saps, who he hides behind. Well, we were until Archie left me and now it’s me.”

Emma undid her seatbelt and shakily turned to get out of the car. “Well, doesn’t it suck to be you.”

“Well, it kinda sucks to be you too,” Mary smirked. “Because Archie already knew the money was gone and Gold was watching our conversation. He knows you were involved and he has taken Regina.”

Emma heaved herself from the car and leaned on the roof while she got her balance back. “We have to get her back.”

Mary laughed loudly. “You really don’t get it to do you? Gold isn’t like Archie. Archie is like a toothless, clawless kitten in comparison to Gold. Regina’s done for. He’ll get her to tell him everything she knows and then he’ll kill her. If he hasn’t already killed her. The only thing you can do now, is save yourself.”

“And you,” Emma guessed.

“We’ll be stronger together. You have a gun, I have enough money in cash to get us to the border.”

“You think Gold is going to come back for us?” Emma asked.

“I know he will,” Mary pressed. “We have to go.”

“Okay,” Emma nodded. “Can you help me?”

Mary took a step forward with her hands out to assist and Emma took the opportunity to slam her fist into Mary’s face. A second later she struck again and Mary fell backwards.

“What the HELL?” Mary screamed, raising her hand to her bleeding nose.

“Get the fuck out of my life!” Emma shouted. She shook her hand, sure it was now broken. “I don’t know why you’re so scared of this Gold dude but you should be scared of me because the way I feel right now I would happily beat you to death.”

Mary stumbled a few steps backwards and stared at her sister in horror.

“I mean it, Mary. Get out of here. If I ever see you again then I will hit you over and over again and I don’t think I’d ever be able to stop.”

“Em-”

“Go!” Emma screamed.

Mary turned and sprinted away. Emma turned back to lean on the roof of the car and closed her eyes to try to stop the tears from flowing. Archie wasn’t the top of the tree, Gold was. And Gold had Regina. Emma reached into her jacket pocket and lifted out her mobile phone, wincing in pain as she did. 

She placed the phone on the roof of the car and unlocked the phone and accessed the last number that she saved to the device. The number that Regina gave her before they left the apartment. The phone rang a couple of times before being answered.

“Who is this?” A rough male Russian voice asked.

“My name is Emma Swan, Doctor Regina Mills asked me to call you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Emma knew a lie when she heard one. “Doctor Mills has been kidnapped, the man who has her is probably going to kill her. He is also the man who is trying to con you as part of an aviation fuel scheme.”

“I’ll send a car for you. If you’re lying-”

“You’ll kill me, yeah, there’s been a lot of that today.”

***

Emma looked around the plush office with interest. As promised, a car had picked her up and driven her to a restaurant in the nicer end of town. She was shown to a washroom where she cleaned up most of the caked-on blood and made herself slightly more presentable. Then she was led to the office in the back room. 

The furnishings were high-end, luxurious and completely mismatched. It looked like someone with a lot of money and not a lot of taste had gone on a drug-fuelled binge. Emma supposed that might well be exactly what happened.

The door opened and a tall, muscular man in a very expensive suit entered the room. “Miss Swan, I hope my men have looked after you?”

Emma stood up, gently as her muscles still protested. “They did, thank you, Mister Azarov.” She stretched her hand out and was relieved when he genially shook it.

“Call me Aleksey. My men tell me you were in a car crash? In Doctor Mills’ car?” He sat down in the chair behind his desk.

“A man who I believe was Elias Gold sideswiped us to take us out.”

“And why would Elias Gold want to take you out?”

Emma let out a sigh and closed her eyes momentarily. “Look, it’s a very long story and I’m worried that while we’re sat here Regina is literally in danger of losing her life.”

Aleksey leaned forward. “I have history with Mister Gold, I’m not about to enter his territory without more than the word of a pretty girl.”

Emma bit back the response that was on the tip of her tongue. “I’m the scientist that’s developing the fuel formula. Except it doesn’t work. It’s dangerous, highly volatile. My…” Emma clenched her teeth for a moment. “My sister and her partner were working for Gold, she was pushing me into the project. He was threatening me. I didn’t know they were together and I’d never heard of Gold before today.”

Aleksey’s interest piqued at the mention of the fuel. He sat back and looked at her with interest. “This doesn’t explain Regina’s involvement.”

“She…she was my doctor.”

“Was?” Aleksey picked up the word Emma tried to smother.

“We’re friends.”

“Friends.” He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m in love with her.” Emma looked at him seriously, fire in her eyes. “I don’t know her feelings towards me but…but she’s the best damn person I ever met. And she told me to contact you if anything went wrong, she said that you’d help her.”

“What’s her cat called?”

“What?” Emma looked at him incredulously.

“The cat. What’s its name?”

“Henry. His name is Henry and he is a fat, arrogant lump of fur who she worships.”

Aleksey looked her in the eye and nodded. “I will speak with my network and find out where she is. I’ll have her brought back here.” He stood up to leave.

“I’m coming with you.” Emma got to her feet.

Aleksey looked at her and chuckled. “This is not a game for girls.”

“I’m a Major in the Air Force. I’ve seen active service.” Emma neglected to mention it was in Utah.

Aleksey looked impressed and then shrugged. “You still remain here.”

“What? Come on!” Emma argued, approaching him so they were toe to toe.

“I cannot worry about whether or not you are getting yourself shot.”

“Then don’t, just let me come with you. It’s my fault Regina is in this situation and I can’t…I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” She shouted at him.

“You seem like a smart girl,” he said, “You must realise who I am. Who you are shouting at.”

“Yes,” Emma said, not backing down.

Aleksey smiled. He turned and slapped Emma’s back, hard. “I like you! You don’t give a fuck.”

Emma smiled nervously. “Not today I don’t.”

“Come, I know where Elias will hide.”


	27. Chapter 27

Emma knew precisely zero about gangs. Only what she had seen on television. When Aleksey had told her that they would be going to see Elias Gold, she had expected kicking down doors and showers of bullets.

Instead, she was sat in an Italian restaurant being offered the house special, lasagne.

"No, I don't want your fu—"

Aleksey placed a calming hand on her forearm. "Accept the lasagne. You are a guest," he told her.

She turned to the waiter and smiled her best fake smile. "Thank you." She turned back to Elias Gold, the man who she wanted to kill. The man who had admitted to taking Regina and was claiming that she was safe and well.

He sipped his wine and regarded her with a smirk. "So, you're Major Swan. You're the scientist who couldn't make the formula work."

"And you're the dumb shit who sold it to the Russian mafia." Emma smiled back.

Aleksey rolled his eyes. "She is new to the negotiation," he explained to Elias.

"So I see. Well, let's bring her up to speed. We're in a bit of a mess because of you, Major. You've stolen my money. Money that, in some part, technically belongs to that man sitting next to you."

"I don't want the money," Aleksey replied. "I want the fuel."

"The fuel doesn't work. It's highly volatile and dangerous," Emma explained.

"So you claim." Elias looked at her while toying with a ring on his finger. "But how do we know that is the case?"

"You'll have to trust me, I guess."

Silence filled the room for a few seconds until Elias and Aleksey started to laugh. Emma stared at them in surprise. Aleksey wiped some tears from his eyes and slapped Emma on the back. He looked at Elias as said, "I like this one. She makes me laugh."

Aleksey picked up his wine glass and downed the contents in two hefty gulps. A waiter stepped in and immediately refilled it. "Your man lied to you," Aleksey told Elias. "Your investor on the inside told you that the fuel was good, yes?"

"Hopper, yes, he led me to believed that sign off was imminent." Elias looked angry and shook his head.

"So, there is no problem between you and I," Aleksey gestured between himself and Elias. "We have worked together for many years and the actions of one man, they do not need to stop a lucrative partnership."

Elias interlaced his fingers and leaned forward. "I'm listening."

"You will release Doctor Mills to me, I will ensure that my money is returned and the rest of the funds are returned to you. My men are already hunting down Hopper, they will have him within the next twenty-four hours. I will hand him to you to deal with, as a gesture of goodwill."

"And the fuel?" Elias questioned.

"If Major Swan completes the formula, she will contact me and sell to us at the rate we previously agreed." Aleksey turned to Emma. "Yes?"

Emma nodded her head. "Yes, of course. But—"

"But, you are discharged from the military now so the chance of that happening is unlikely. Your research will likely be shelved, correct?"

Emma nodded again.

Aleksey turned back to Elias. "I think the fuel sector is not for us, Elias. Too many players are involved in this, we risk exposure if we continue down this route."

Emma watched as Elias mulled over the suggestion. Aleksey had told her to keep quiet and let him negotiate. But, that was back when she thought negotiations meant kicking in doors and destroying the building with machine guns. Apparently, the mob was like any other business. Clichés were clichés for reasons.

"Very well. But I want Hopper," Elias said.

"You'll have him," Aleksey promised. He turned to a man behind him and nodded. The man left the restaurant, presumably to give instructions to someone else. "And Doctor Mills?"

Elias nodded and turned around and whispered something to a man behind him. The man left the room. Elias lifted up his wine bottle and gestured towards Emma. "More wine, Major?"

"No," Emma managed to sound polite. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She wanted to see Regina and then get the hell out of there.

"What are the chances that I can convince you to work with us?" Elias asked her.

"Non-existent," Emma admitted. "I'm changing career."

Elias shrugged. "Pity."

A door opened and Regina walked into the room. Emma got up from the table and rushed over to her, looking her over before pulling her into a hug. "Thank God, you're okay."

"I'm fine, they treated me well," Regina assured her. "Although, this is the second time I've been kidnapped since I met you."

"Doctor," Aleksey greeted.

Emma took a step back and Aleksey kissed Regina on both cheeks, evaluating her quickly before nodding in satisfaction. He turned to Elias. "My men will take the ladies home; we have other business to discuss if you agree?"

Elias nodded and waved his hand distractedly. "As long as I get my money."

Aleksey looked at Regina and spoke quietly, "This crazy woman says she is in love with you."

Emma felt herself blush but was happy she wasn't the only one judging by Regina's reddening cheeks.

"She is fearless and good for you. You should give her a chance," he continued.

Regina looked at Emma fondly. "I intend to."

"Good!" Aleksey slapped Emma on the back, hard. She was fairly sure that she must be bruising by now. "My men will take you home, I will contact you later about returning the money you stole."

Regina blushed further. "About that…"

Aleksey shrugged. "In your shoes? I would have done the same. I'm proud of you."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Regina pointed out.

"The next time we talk about moral codes I will bring this up," Aleksey told her with a wink.

***

**Two weeks later**

"I'm not moving into your old, crumbling apartment," Emma stated firmly.

"Well, I'm not moving into this apartment. You know, the one all the criminals know about. The one where your dear sister punched me in the face." Regina shook her head; she was still horrified by the events of that night.

"Fine, then I'll move in with you." Emma stood up from the dining table and picked up the dirty plates. She stalked into the kitchen.

Regina smiled to herself. They had been speaking about moving in together for the last two weeks. Both no longer comfortable living alone after having spent so much time living together.

Everything had been cleared up. Mary had vanished. Hopper had been found and then vanished. Regina returned all the money she had taken from the account, except for a sizable amount that didn't seem to belong to Gold nor Aleksey. Assuming it was Archie and Mary's personal funds, she kept that money to one side for safe-keeping, just in case.

She had reassurance from Aleksey that she would be looked after and had returned to work at the practice. Emma's discharge was processed and she had been offered various private sector positions that she was mulling over.

Emma still had night terrors every night. But Regina no longer woke her up and climbed into bed with her. She didn't need to; she was already beside her. Nowadays, she just wrapped Emma securely in her arms and waited for the worst of the nightmares to subside.

Of course, Emma still claimed she didn't need therapy. Though, Regina had caught Emma looking through her psychology text books on the nights they slept at her place. They'd had conversations about theoretical patients that Regina might have and Emma was starting to keep a journal about her thoughts and dreams.

"But, the cat's got to go," Emma said as she walked back to the dining table.

"Henry stays." Regina watched as Emma cleared the table.

"Fine, but then I should have my own pet, to balance things," Emma said with exasperation.

"I'm getting you a puppy for your birthday next week, you know, as you dropped so many hints," Regina told her.

Emma looked up at her in excited surprise. "You're not kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not," Regina promised. She pulled out her phone and brought up the picture of the puppy that Emma had been coveting. She'd already taken Henry to the house to see how he reacted and, to her surprise, he'd enjoyed playing the the puppies. "She's going to be a handful, like her mother."

Emma took the phone and beamed with excitement. Regina stood up to help to clear the table but before she had a chance to pick up one item, Emma had pulled her into a passionate kiss.

Clearing up forgotten, Regina wrapped her arms around Emma and allowed herself to be walked backwards. When Emma started to kiss her neck, she let out a chuckle. "Why are we heading for the bedroom, Miss Swan?"

"We're going to deface my bed one last time before I move into your place."

Regina gasped as Emma grazed the sensitive spot below her ear with her teeth. "One last time?"

"Depends on if that stupid cat of yours ruins the mood like last night."

"Make sure you close the door," Regina breathed.

****

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time it took for me to finish this story. As most of you know, I haven't really been feeling the SwanQueen vibe for some time. Even though this is so AU that there really is no Emma or Regina within it.
> 
> But I'm glad that it is now finished and I can say with pride that I never left a SwanQueen story unfinished. Thank you to everyone who supported me with this and my other stories, it's been an amazing adventure but now I'll be saying farewell to SwanQueen. Thank you all :)


End file.
